While we, the People of Earth, still remember the Alien Wars and World War III, there was something else of utmost importance to take into account...

Ever since the discovery of stolen Bacterion warships hidden within the classified Area 51, and the treacherous General Shepherd's untimely demise, the people of Earth were eventually concerned that the Bacterions might have already picked it up. That was long before we, the Contras, took out Shepherd's personal army along with Project: ACT ZERO and the ultimate plan to eradicate every living Bomberman in the universe (not to mention replace them with the ones that he'll have personally created). Well, it was Aaron, Ami, Blaze Bomber, and Arctic Bomber who took out the stolen warships at the source while Lance and I helped redirect the people of Diamond City to safety...

We, the People of both planets Earth and Bomber eventually began coexisting since then, working hard to repair the damages that Red Falcon inflicted during World War III. In addition to such, we needed to work together in order to prepare for the inevitable invasion, for if we are ill-equipped by the time the Bacterions arrive from another galaxy to wreak havoc, all would be lost. And Red Falcon, Sniper Bomber, and Axe Bomber would be made virtually invincible if they ever get revived along the way.

Speaking of which, chances are the Bacterions can and will resurrect those three warmongers back to life, with or without warning. None can really tell beyond any prediction, that they would return before or during the inevitable invasion on Earth. But beyond that, the oncoming conflict may not as well be called "World War IV" anymore, despite political claims from the United States. We may as well call that the Interdimensional War, for if push comes to shove, we're definitely gonna need help from the Vic Viper, said to be the sole protector of planet Gradius in another dimension.

However, even before then, it came as no surprise that we Contras would have to make an appearance in the court of law. We did destroy Area 51 in an effort to prevent the Bacterion warships from coming out to desecrate our world...anyway, as it turned out from Penny Crygor and Blaze Bomber's research, Shepherd and his "Shadow Company" were merely part of an even bigger organization: the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Seems like they weren't too happy about us blowing up a bunch of Bacterion technology that one of their loyal associates "brought back" from another dimension. But from my personal experience, as well as our knowledge of the Alien movie series, this megacorporation is known more for their sudden interest in bio-weaponry. All we can do at this point is defend ourselves without instigating a hostile response from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation...

It was a rough trip to the past, but with the space-time continuum back to its former glory, Arctic Bomber returned to the present safely with Cheerful White and Cute Pink at her side. They explained everything about their journey, from going through the different eras to the shocking truth about General Shepherd being brought back to life through Colonel Bassad's insertion of his consciousness and personality into Sirius's dead, salvaged body. They ended it with the quick event that involved saving 9-Volt's mom from certain death and preventing the C4 explosion on his house in the process.

Me: "So the ones who said they're from the future who saved 5-Volt...it was you three?"Cheerful White: "Yeah. I wish we could've done the same for 9-Volt's dad, but we didn't want to risk a paradox or getting ourselves killed..."Ami: "I understand. But at least you three did the right thing, the best you could."Bill: "And this time, we'll see the last of Shepherd and his sick obsession with stealing Bacterion technology for his own personal gain."Lance: "So, we're good to go, right?"Blaze Bomber: "It'll be a while before we're fully ready to work alongside the world leaders to repel the oncoming Bacterion invasion. If it means we must travel through space along the way to planet Gradius, we'll do it."Arctic Bomber: "Not just for the sake of innocent lives in the country which we live in, but also the future of planets Earth and Bomber. Like you, Aaron, Ami, Bill, and Lance said: we are Contras!"Blaze Bomber: "As long as we're around to set things right, the forces of evil can't mess with history nor the freedom of Earth."9-Volt: "I know, and I'm still glad you turned over a new leaf and became good, Arctic. Hey, Phoebe! Come on out and see the ones who saved history!"Cheerful White: "Phoebe?"Cute Pink: "Who's that?"

A fair young girl about a year older than 9-Volt stepped forth to introduce herself. She had short auburn hair, a bit longer than 9-Volt's brown hair, with its curly backside extending down to her neck. Her attire was but a female version of 9-Volt's traditional outfit (minus the helmet), consisting of a minty-green shirt along with a pair of gloves and boots in matching colors, and a long crimson skirt. Her shirt, instead of bearing a "V" sign like 9-Volt's, had the famed Nintendo 64 logo embedded on it.

Not much about her was known to everyone except her close friends, along with 9-Volt, whom she first befriended in a dream when he was 5 years old. Like with him, she is an avid gamer; a Nintendo fan, if you will. She actually lives in a dream world thought by many to be non-existent in reality: Video Game Dream, as its princess. Her father, the king, is in charge of judging whether a video game that showed up there, was worthy of having its copies released for his people to play on their respective game consoles, on their downtime. But if the game was deemed bad, then it was banished instead to an underworld region: Video Game Nightmare. Though Phoebe isn't much into royalty like her father, and would rather be adventurous like a normal girl, she's often polite to people. She can play a piano, but she's more into her favorite activities: video games, and bowling.

She and 9-Volt love playing certain multiplayer games, such as Mario Kart, Mario Party, and even Bomberman (except for "Act Zero", and for good reason too). Even today, 9-Volt's not afraid to admit that while he's good at the Mario games, Phoebe is better than him at Bomberman. Thankfully for him, she's not one to taunt people for no reason, whether it's video games or bowling. Aside from giving helpful advice, she encourages her friends to stay healthy and take good care of their own stuff, and is proud to hear 9-Volt is doing just that. Despite being a princess, she's not afraid to get dirty if necessary to protect those she cares about, especially 9-Volt.

Arctic Bomber: "9-Volt, I...I didn't know you were friends with her to begin with..."9-Volt: "Well, when you, White, and Pink saved my mom and our house from being destroyed, you gave my life back. I kept my dreams about Phoebe bottled up in my head ever since my dad died. But now, I don't have to worry so much anymore since I was taught to never let such depressing times bog me down. In fact, she's always been at my side all along since she moved next door to me at her dad's request, even throughout World War III..."Phoebe: "And I've always been his bodyguard - I mean guardian angel - since he was five. I know he didn't mean to keep my existence a secret from everyone."Arctic Bomber (thinking): Oh, that's right! White, Pink, and I are the only ones who don't have a clue about that girl's well-being, since we were doing all the time-warping in the past...Blaze Bomber: "Not to mention the events that took place in outer space at the time. When I came all the way to Rosalina's Comet Observatory by myself to make amends and sever my ties with the Hate Bombers, Phoebe felt that I wasn't as 'evil' as anybody thought I was. And later on, during World War III, I had the courage to admit that I was never evil nor a Hate Bomber to begin with."Phoebe: "I know. Red Falcon brainwashed you against your will just after he deliberately decimated your people on your former homeworld."

Soon after getting to know Phoebe, Arctic Bomber turned her attention towards me, Ami, Bill, and Lance. Though she had time-traveled to the past, she still hadn't forgotten the fact that we destroyed Area 51 last month in order for all the stolen Bacterion warships to be wiped off the face of the Earth. Half of her felt victorious, but the other half felt guilty she did her part in destroying government property. It didn't come as a surprise that we would be held responsible, though the public believed otherwise. As a matter of fact, Penny Crygor and Blaze Bomber found out sometime after in which the Weyland-Yutani Corporation was pulling the strings the entire time, ranging from the hidden underground base on Galuga Island to the Weapons Research Station.

Arctic Bomber: "Wait, I thought the US Government funded these two bases..."Blaze Bomber: "Or so Shepherd claimed. I'll admit, he did a fine job hiding the Weyland-Yutani Corporation's real-life existence from us very well."Arctic Bomber: "Okay, there's something wrong with this picture! I mean, why would an American general like him use the government's name as a cover-up for his twisted projects? And don't get me started on that Shadow Company bullcrap or even 'Blood Falcon' or whatever the hell he called it..."Blaze Bomber: "Only one possible explanation, as you may or may not have seen already: his unhealthy obsession with power and Bacterion technology."Me: "Despite all that, we still have to go to court. The session is only a few weeks away, but it's in the Supreme Court..."Ami: "Boy, what's the world coming to when you can't trust a megacorporation like Weyland-Yutani? And they say their slogan is 'building better worlds'..."Me: "It's not our fault, Ami. Our country is nothing like them, because we Contras fight evil to preserve the world. Even the US military isn't like Shepherd's personal army of rogue soldiers."Blaze Bomber: "Aaron's right. We'll do fine as long as we tell the truth, only the truth, and nothing but the truth."Arctic Bomber: "Everybody knows that, because we worked our butts off to make sure the stolen warships don't come out and desecrate the planet."Yuffie: "Don't worry, we're right behind you guys all the way!"

APRIL 12, 20XX...

It was now time for the court session. The staff members of WarioWare Inc., along with Puffy AmiYumi and their close friends, including the Contras (Arctic, Blaze, Bill, Lance, Ami, and me) were expected to make an appearance at the Supreme Court of the United States. The same went for Privates Jimbo and Sully, who were each promoted to Corporal for assisting Bill, Lance, and the Diamond Police in redirecting innocent civilians to safety. Due to Shepherd's betrayal, they were legally transferred over to the US Colonial Marines, the official successor of the US Marine Corps. As for the court session at hand, we were all required to dress formally, which we did.

Jimbo (Southern accent): "I never thought we'd see you guys again after all this time."Sully (Southern accent): "Same here. We're with the Colonial Marines now, but it'll be an honor helping you in any way we can."Blaze Bomber: "We appreciate it. Word on the street is Weyland-Yutani's been pulling the strings all along, even going so far as to claim the Bacterion warships and even the cloned Xenomorphs as the finest in American history."Bill: "Yeah. Apparently, when they found out about our deeds, they got pissed and decided to sue us for 'destroying government property'."Lance: "Government property my ass..."

As we got ourselves seated as assigned, a bailiff appeared before the audience and the jury to announce the chief judge of the Supreme Court, thus prompting everyone to stand before him as told, "Ladies and gentlemen, the court session will now come to order: the Weyland-Yutani Corporation vs. the Contras." Jimbo, Sully, Arctic Bomber, Blaze Bomber, Bill, Lance, Ami, and I were seated on the right table representing our namesake group dedicated to fighting crime and dark forces alike, whereas six representatives of Weyland-Yutani were seated on the left table. It was obvious to Arctic that we're the defendants in the court of law, with the Company men as the plaintiffs.

Chief Judge: "Plaintiffs of Weyland-Yutani, state your case."(The leading member of the group, known as Burke, stepped forth.)Burke: "First off, I am Carter J. Burke, a respected junior executive of the company. Now, as you are no doubt aware, these eight war criminals at this table have been senselessly desecrating our good name by destroying government property, notably Area 51, if you will."Arctic Bomber (sighs): "Yeah yeah, we did destroy that base. We'd be lying if any of us claimed otherwise..."(The judge banged his gavel three times to grab her attention.)Chief Judge: "Order in the court! Burke, if you may continue?"Burke: "We at Weyland-Yutani have been focusing deeply on building better worlds for years ever since the Alien Wars, because that is basically what we do as a multi-million dollar corporation. Charles Bishop Weyland was one of its co-founders, along with Lieutenant General Shepherd and a couple other key members. And before I forget, the story about us kidnapping a bunch of people from all over the world for Project ACT ZERO was nothing but a blatant lie, spewed out by these criminals. We are in no way affiliated with this project or whatever they call it."Jimbo (whispering): "Now that remark is a dadburn lie."Burke: "They've given us so much trouble, thus forcing us to take extreme measures to put them away. Never in my life have I ever imagined they'd go this far by blowing up Area 51 just because they're against our plans for building better worlds...I mean, think about it. Multi-million dollar bases, all blown out of existence because of a small group of angry rebels whose morals and values are poisonous to our well-being, not to mention filled to the brim with arrogance and paranoia. I rest my case."Arctic Bomber (muttering): "Poisonous my ass."Bill: "Your Honor, if I may object..."

Before he could make his statement, Burke got off the table and pointed his finger accusingly at him. "No! This vile criminal can't object! I say we find him and all his followers guilty!" But, he was quickly interrupted by the chief judge, who declared his statement overruled and allowed Bill to state his case.

Bill: "Thank you, Your Honor. Despite what was said on Weyland-Yutani's side of the story, our side speaks the truth, and I intend to do so. According to what we've personally witnessed aboard the W.R.S., General Shepherd had been secretly completing Project ACT ZERO by kidnapping plenty of innocent victims from around the world, whilst creating the illusion that space aliens were doing it with the aid of his holographic belts. He intended to turn the victims into mindless zombies so he could test the battle suits' capabilities before distributing them to his own soldiers, whom he dubbed the 'Super Bombermen.' or as we would call them nowadays, the Zero Men. When we exposed his plans, he deliberately set the W.R.S. to self-destruct as a last-ditch effort to kill us, but we escaped with our lives."Blaze Bomber: "Aaron, Ami, and I did our share of the investigation on Galuga Island to expose Shepherd's real intentions, but his loyal follower, Colonel Bassad, insisted that we die by his hands. We fought back and destroyed him as a defensive act."Chief Judge: "I see. And if I recall, your party was responsible for redirecting innocent lives to safety during the attack in Diamond City, am I correct?"Lance: "Yeah. Once we made our escape, we reunited with our fellow Contras and took out the Bacterion warships that were dead set on destroying the city at Shepherd's discretion."Burke: "Oh, that's preposterous! They went too far, leaving us no choice but to retaliate in spades!"(The chief judge banged his gavel once more.)Chief Judge: "Order in the court! Contras, you may continue."Lance: "Thanks, Your Honor. Shepherd's reason for wanting to blow up Diamond City was just so nobody would ever live to know what they heard from us about his real intentions. And if I recall, he even sent in a group of convicted felons to waste us, whilst bribing them with a $1 billion bounty on our heads. Bill and I know them as the Killer Mohawks, because we've dealt with them before."Arctic Bomber: "And finally, I went with Aaron, Ami, and Blaze Bomber to Area 51 to take out the rest of the stolen Bacterion warships at its source. It became obvious Shepherd was using the base as his personal hangar for all those ships he'd been stockpiling over time. We had to destroy it by setting them all to self-destruct simultaneously, and like I said, we'd be lying if we claimed otherwise."Blaze Bomber: "We only did it because if the ships were left alone, they would self-activate and threaten the planet in time for their one and true master to make his appearance. As a historical fact, he is known as Bacterian, the space god of destruction. We rest our case."Burke: "That is ridiculous! Your Honor, these people speak nothing but such heresy."Chief Judge: "Overruled! Has the jury reached a verdict?"

Based on the paperwork given out to the judge and jury about the case, especially our side of the story, they took a moment to make their final statement. The jury members then stood up, with one of them finding us not guilty, and free of all charges that Burke filed against us. It didn't take much for the chief judge to realize that we had been doing what's right for the sake of not just the United States, but the whole world as well. By exposing the traitorous General Shepherd's real plans, we prevented total destruction...though it was not to be the last since it's only a matter of months before the Bacterion Empire finally makes an appearance above orbit. As for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, they were fined $1 billion for their illegal acts, including but not limited to: stockpiling alien Xenomorphs and stolen technology alike for their bio-weapons division, blatant disregard for the lives of any people involved in said attempts, and even using a restricted area as a personal hangar for the Bacterion warships. Thus, the chief judge declared that the megacorporation cease and desist all projects in relation to bio-weaponry, and to disband immediately. With one last bang from the gavel, the judge dismissed the case, but Burke had one last thing to tell us before he left with his followers.

Burke: "One day, you'll realize what a big mistake you've made. You don't understand the true potential of Bacterion technology..."Sully: "We understand just that, alright: the potential threat it possesses."Burke: "Still uttering the same nonsense. The world doesn't stand a chance without it, and you know it."

With the case resolved, we were free to return to Diamond City, and thus continued to fund the restoration of Area 51 in anticipation of the oncoming invasion by the Bacterion Empire. With the people of planet Bomber co-existing on Earth, we slowly but surely made the effort to ensure our planet would be ready - only without the stolen technology from space.

Approximately 7 months since the court case, came November 9. Humans and Bombermen co-worked to boost Earth's defenses, starting with the construction of a few space colonies. In the event that the citizens of Diamond City would go with us into outer space to assess the situation, we unofficially dubbed one of said colonies "Interstellar Diamond." As a matter of fact, half the city's population openly admitted they couldn't just sit around and do nothing while we're risking our lives out there, meaning they wanted to aid us in any way possible just as we aided them time and again. Even Diamond City's top scientists agreed that Project: ACT ZERO was nothing but trouble, despite Weyland-Yutani's claims about how it would "change the world of today." Henceforth, the scientists swore to assist Dr. Crygor in our campaign to defeat the Bacterion Empire, as well as give Penny the finer points of being a great scientist just like her grandfather.

Throughout the months, the scientists cooperated with Professor Ein, Cheerful White's old mentor, and his colleagues as they began the development of the space fighters for planets Earth and Bomber's military forces to use, in addition to constructing two experimental vehicles, each resembling a sports car, with the technology based on both the CrygorCopter and the souped-up taxi cab that Dribble and Spitz normally use. Some scientists suggested naming them after the famed Vic Viper and Lord British starfighters from the Gradius series, but we recommended against it since they're likely taken by the people of planet Gradius. In conclusion, we decided to call them the Contra Cruisers. Upon painting the first one blue, and the other red, we assigned each vehicle an obvious callsign.

Arctic Bomber: "CC-Blue and CC-Red? Isn't that a little cliche, not to mention generic?"Ami: "I know it sounds that way, but we didn't want to get a little too complex on nicknaming our Contra Cruisers."Me: "I think I have a better idea. How about...let's see...CC-Aqua, and CC-Flame?"Blaze Bomber: "Sounds good to me. All in favor of these two better callsigns, say aye."Bill: "Aye."Lance: "Same here."Ami: "Not bad at all, Aaron."Arctic Bomber: "As long as these codenames stand out, I'm okay with it."

[End BGM]

Just then, a blaring klaxon went off with a male announcer giving a mandatory warning through loudspeakers: Emergency! Emergency! Interstellar Diamond and all other space colonies are under attack by the Bacterions! All non-military personnel and civilians are to evacuate immediately! All armed forces to their battle stations and commence extermination! We knew it was coming someday, even throughout the past 7 months. And now, the Bacterion forces have prepared an invasion on planet Earth by sending in its armada of BigCore MK-I warships, flanked by numerous clones of Zelos Force (the big red spherical creature).

Me: "Looks like we'll be giving our Contra Cruisers a real test run after all."Ami: "At this rate, it's not much of a surprise. Let's make our family and friends proud."

[Stage BGM: Universe (Gradius V)]

Mission 1: Space colony defenseUnsurprisingly, the Bacterions have made their appearance above Earth's orbit, ready to take out the three space colonies in their way. The Contras, now aboard their namesake space fighters, are ordered to defend against the onslaught, and destroy the enemy leader in charge of the invasion.November 9, 20XX6:30 PM

Blaze Bomber, Ami, and I got inside the blue Contra Cruiser, while Arctic Bomber boarded the red one alongside Bill and Lance. Starting our engines, we flew off to battle within Interstellar Diamond to chase off the Bacterions. We shot down small groups of enemy ships, causing them to cough up some spherical power-up icons for us to acquire. Thinking back to Gradius, we collected the icons until the power meter on both our space cars highlighted "Multiple." With proper management, we generated two orange, oval-shaped pods for each Contra Cruiser to give additional firepower, whilst keeping our regular laser shots. By the time we encountered a BigCore MK-I, we each generated a force field around our cruisers for protection.

Bill: "We know what needs to be done, fellas."Lance: "In other words: shoot the core!"

The BigCore MK-I attacked in its basic manner: four blue lasers, while swerving up and down. Of course, anybody who's ever played Gradius would simply position the Vic Viper in-between the laser shots or avoid them altogether, and fire at the weak spot repeatedly. But as we expected, each barrier panel destroyed coughed up a spread of diamond-shaped "suicide bullets", which we avoided easily. When the warship's blue core was exposed, we fired away until it turned red and exploded, destroying the BigCore MK-I instantly. A fleet of large crafts followed behind its destruction, shot some plasma bullets but couldn't angle them very well, giving us plenty of room to destroy them. Finally, the allied forces showed up to assist us in driving out the invaders.

Arctic Bomber: "Thanks, fellas! We're clear to head out and blow these bastards to hell!"

Upon flying out of our space colony, we found out not a moment too soon that what we destroyed was only the first wave. The second one mainly consisted of numerous Zelos Force clones, each with the ability to expand in size as a means of crushing small ships in-between themselves. Before we engaged them, we announced our current situation.

Thanks to the Multiples we still had, we didn't have too much trouble blasting the Zelos Force clones, shrinking them in size until they went "BWAAAAAAAAAAAH!" and exploded. The Bacterion forces, furious at our success, ordered the spherical creatures to crush only our Contra Cruisers at once, or surround us so we can't get out. Their tactics proved to be a fluke as we blew them away, eventually persuading them that they had no other choice but to flee now, or get their comeuppance for attempting to kill people.

Me: "They've gotten our message."Ami: "We're winning!"Bill: "So it would seem. There's a portal right in front of us!"Lance: "I see something coming out. Get back!"

[End BGM][Boss BGM: Stage Boss (Gradius V)]

A giant warship came out of the portal, revealing itself as a BigCore. We instantly recognized it as the BigCore Rev. 1.2 (a modification of the BigCore MK-I) from Gradius V as the first boss. It was embedded with an arm ring on each side, forming the shape of a giant circle. On each arm ring, it had three cannons that shot blue ion rings.

The BigCore warship commenced its attack sequence by shooting two long lasers from its main body, whilst spinning around and firing the ion rings from its circular arms. Only with our excellent piloting skills did we manage to avoid the enemy shots unscathed. Afterwards, the core itself opened up, giving us the opportunity to fire away.

Arctic Bomber: "Bill, Lance, and I are gonna wreck the ion ring launchers on the bottom, while you three take out the upper ones!"Blaze Bomber: "Copy that, Arctic. Aaron and Ami, let's make it count because there aren't any extra lives!"Ami: "Everybody knows that."Me: "Say no more."

Having assigned ourselves two different tasks, we opened fire on the ion ring cannons in addition to keeping an eye out for the BigCore Rev. 1.2's frontal laser attack. In less than a minute, we destroyed all six of the cannons, forcing the enemy warship to divert all energy to its main guns. Now we had plasma spread shots to avoid, but our bravery and skills enabled us to inch our way out of death's door. With careful timing, we blew open all the barrier panels, and attacked the core itself. Fortunately, no suicide bullets ever came out of the panels we destroyed, simply because we already had the plasma balls to dodge. Then the BigCore warship charged up for its two long lasers again and fired away, but it only spun around 180 degrees before we finally took out the core. With no energy left, the BigCore Rev. 1.2 went off in chain of small explosions, prompting us to break away just seconds before it detonated in the ensuing, massive explosion.

[End BGM]

Bill: "This is Contra Cruisers Flame and Aqua. The mission was successful!"Lance: "We're all accounted for, and the invading Bacterions expunged."

Having said that, we flew back to Interstellar Diamond even though we didn't suffer any damages during the battle. Thank goodness for the barrier on each of our Contra Cruisers!

With the space colonies safe from the Bacterion invasion, we checked in with Dr. Crygor, Professor Ein, and the fellow scientists to survey the damage. Thankfully, it wasn't too severe, though our alliance did suffer some casualties on our part.

Blaze Bomber: "Well, at least our Contra Cruisers performed well."Ami: "We were lucky to have activated the energy shields, otherwise we might not have survived."Me: "Yeah, but don't forget: like with the Gradius series, the force field isn't as durable as the frontal, gear-shaped shield. It can only protect the ship for about 3 hits before disappearing."Bill: "Thank goodness for our spaceship training."Arctic Bomber: "I second that. But why did the Bacterions target our space colonies instead of Earth?"Lance: "To get the outer defenses out of the way. Then again, there had to be a reason..."Penny: "I've just figured it out. They intended for all of us to come out and fight back, that way the colonies, let alone Interstellar Diamond, would be vulnerable inside...and eventually Earth."Arctic Bomber: "Wait a minute, they're not bent on resurrecting Red Falcon and his dead lackeys back to life, are they?"Dr. Crygor: "No, not at all. Their main reason for world dominion is simply to expand their empire, like a hive mind. Apparently, it's different from the Red Falcon Empire's motives. While Red Falcon, Sniper Bomber, and Axe Bomber lead an army of intergalactic cutthroats and killing machines alike, let alone the Five Dastardly Bombers, the Bacterion Empire behaves quite the same except for certain key differences: for one, they act as a hive mind, usually run by an organic leader from the comforts of its personal base."Professor Ein: "Here's what we've looked up so far on Gradian history..."

(FLASHBACK -- PROFESSOR EIN'S DIALOGUE)In the infinitely-expanding universe, lies a blue planet similar to our own, and your planet Earth. Gradius, as it was called, was home to a human race whose technology is quite advanced beyond that of Earth's. Of course, it was one of the main targets of the Bacterions, but the Vic Viper -- first piloted by Special Colonel James Burton -- defeated them time and again. Occasionally, there would be a different leader in charge of the Bacterion hive mind, but most of the time, it's Bacterian. You know, that space god of destruction?

Ahem...anyway, like Dr. Crygor said, the Bacterions have an entirely different reason for conquering planets. But rather than just occupy one with a huge army like Red Falcon usually does with his, the Bacterions literally infect it on the inside. In due time, that planet would be converted into their personal "Organic Fortress", as the Gradians noted. The Bacterion Empire requires this tactic so they can produce more of their organic kind, then expand their territory across the galaxy as we know it. You might say this is the case, which is true. But unlike Red Falcon himself, the Bacterion leader is often very weak; it desperately needs protection inside its personal fortress.

Besides Bacterian, there were a few other notable dictators who have also been defeated at least once: Gofer, and Dr. Venom. Gofer is another freaky-looking alien head with a brain sticking out atop himself, while Dr. Venom used to be the Director General of the Space Science Agency, who originally created the Vic Viper for James Burton to use against the Bacterions...at least, long before he sold out to the bad guys. You see, Venom was born as a Wreek (aside from James), a primitive race whose extraordinary powers could be used as energy, but were unfortunately weak against radioactivity from space. An outcome of a war took its toll on most of the Wreek, leaving only a few survivors, including James and Venom.

The Gradian government didn't do much for them, and only wanted to use their power, but otherwise avoided contact with them due to their primitive status. You've probably read up on this already, but Dr. Venom had since hated Gradius with a vengeance to the point in which he actually staged a coup d'etat with his followers. His plan was thwarted in time, and he was banished to the barren, deserted prison planet Sard. Finally...well, you get the picture: he sold out to the Bacterions, and that's how he became one of their leaders aside from Bacterian and Gofer.

Anyway, as for the Bacterions' plot to infect other planets: yes, there are a certain few that have been assimilated before, such as Antichthon, the protectorate of the Gradian Empire. Though the planet was utterly destroyed when the Vic Viper took out its infected mother computer, there are other cases in which destroying the enemy controller would revert the mutated planet back into its former state. But either way, should the brain of the empire be destroyed, its minions would often break down into Bacterion cells and multiply to recreate their fleet of mechanical ships and organic creatures. The regeneration would take years, but the cycle inevitably continues on this day...(END FLASHBACK)

Professor Ein: "Had the Earth been infected, chances are it might get destroyed even if we manage to take out the Bacterion commander in charge. This is crucial, especially for planet Bomber."Dr. Crygor: "The seemingly-casual battle we just won was only the prelude for what's to come. We can't afford to lose both our own homeworlds nor their neighboring planets to the Bacterion assimilation."Arctic Bomber: "Looks like I'm gonna need more than just the stuff I learned from practicing up on the Gradius video games Aaron and Ami had shown me..."Blaze Bomber: "We all do. It's not gonna be any easier from this point on, especially if a populated planet does get mutated into an Organic Fortress. We need to get in contact with the people of Gradius for assistance."(Just then, four familiar faces showed up.)King Billy: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's freakin' do it!"Arctic Bomber: "King Billy Bling! It's been a while, hasn't it?"King Billy: "I know, right? The Rich Bombers and I have sworn to fight for Earth, for both our own kingdoms. There's no way we're letting those creepy-crawlies infect the hell out of it!"Penny: "Who are those guys, Arctic?"Arctic Bomber: "Long story. They used to want to be the richest on the planet...but not anymore. I'll explain on the way."

The next morning, we were called for a priority meeting alongside the members of the US Colonial Marines, including Corporals Jimbo and Sully. Their current leader was Lieutenant Jaguar, whose appearance reminded us of Genbei "Jaguar" Yagyu - a humanoid samurai alien from the distant planet "Oh! Edo" - from Neo Contra. Standing beside him was the admiral of the fleet we backed up against the Zelos Force clones.

Arctic Bomber: "This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"Blaze Bomber: "What do you mean?"Arctic Bomber: "Well...uh, forget I said anything."Jaguar: "Good morning, everyone, and thanks again for helping us drive out the savage Bacterions. However, Earth wasn't their only target of interest."Jimbo: "What are you saying?"Jaguar: "The commander of our next operation will fill us in the details."Sully: "So it's the reason we're warping out to planet Gradius, right?"Jaguar: "Well...you're half right, but unfortunately, we've just learned that the attack was none other than a smokescreen to get all of us to come out fighting. Admiral, if you may?"(Jaguar steps aside for the commander to begin his speech.)Ares: "Thank you, lieutenant. Hello again, everyone. I'm Admiral Ares Pierce, though you might assume I am related to the famed God of War. I know Greek mythology myself, but I'm the other Ares."Arctic Bomber (whispering): "Corny."Me (whispering): "Arctic, be quiet."

"Now as you are no doubt aware," Ares began, "like Lieutenant Jaguar said, the invasion we just repelled the other day was a smokescreen. The Bacterions wanted all of us to fight back, and every non-military personnel to evacuate immediately. As it turned out, their small fleet of scout fighters breached our space colonies' security and got ahold of the data concerning Bomber Nebula's existence. In other words, planet Bomber and its neighboring worlds: Primus, Kanatia, and Mazone, are at risk from an oncoming invasion. Garaden Star, however, was destroyed long ago thanks to the heroic efforts of...Shirobon, is it?"

Cheerful White: "Yeah, but my friends call me Cheerful White."

Admiral Ares didn't care which name White preferred to be called, for he remained concerned about how the infection of Bomber, Primus, Kanatia, and Mazone would lead to another attempt at turning Earth into yet another Organic Fortress. He didn't say anything else afterwards, and instead set course for Bomber Nebula at Professor Ein's discretion. As soon as the three space colonies arrived, we were ready to take off in our Contra Cruisers. Just then, the admiral received a message on a secure line.

Do they suspect anything?

Ares: "No, I don't think so."

Good. Monitor them closely.

[Stage BGM: Battleship (Gradius V)]

Elsewhere outside Interstellar Diamond, we flew above planet Bomber alongside Lieutenant Jaguar's crew. As expected, the Bacterions had already shown up before us, though we made the effort to take them out. Suddenly, a portal appeared out of nowhere with a giant flagship coming through. WARNING: There is a space-time anomaly forming, said the CC-Aqua and CC-Flame's computers in unison. Three objects have emerged. Ship identification code cannot be processed for the large craft. The others are Contra Cruisers Aqua and Flame.

Blaze Bomber: "But that's impossible!"

A radio transmission came up, but the face was obscured for some reason. Can you read us? This is Contra Cruisers Aqua and Flame. We don't have much time, so listen closely. In order to defeat them, we need your help. We have to get inside the flagship through two different rear hatches and destroy the core at each end. Both must be taken out, or there's no future for either of us.

Mission 2: Joint operationTemporarily assisted by the CC-Aqua and CC-Flame's counterparts, the Contras have no alternative but to put their mission on hold and destroy the enemy flagship from the inside instead.November 10, 20XX8:25 AM

As much as we wanted to recall from Gradius V, we put aside our thoughts and went along with the plan. We ordered the fleet to take out the enemy stragglers, while we'd deal with the Bacterion flagship inside. From there, we blew open the hatch on the right, and headed on in to take out the sentry guns and fighters alike. We expected some damage from their defenses, though we came out okay despite getting shot at least once or twice. As we made it halfway through the interior of the flagship, we were blocked by a group of large, one-eyed circular monsters moving across the ceiling with their tentacles. They opened up their eyes and shot out a spread of green energy bursts. We couldn't afford another damage, but since we haven't been picking up enough power-up icons to get the force field, we decided to stick with one Multiple on each of our car-shaped fighters. Holding onto the air brakes for as long as we could, we barely squeezed in-between the energy bursts whilst returning fire, until the creatures burst into green guts. Finally, we came to the rendezvous point just before the hatches closed up. Our Contra Cruisers, along with the two counterparts, confronted a large alien brain, flanked by two eye-shaped cores. Neither one offered any resistance, leaving us to obliterate the core on our end and take leave.

Bill: "The core on our end is history."

Okay, you go on ahead.

Lance: "Roger that. We're outta here now, so good luck!"

You too!

After the rather odd moment with our ships' counterparts, we blew open the frontal hatch and got out of the Bacterion flagship. The two counterparts followed behind just before the flagship detonated in a massive explosion, and mysteriously disappeared to whence they came. We thought it all to be pure coincidence at first, since we had no clue on whether our Contra Cruisers were capable of time travel or not. Maybe it might have been an alien artifact installed on our counterparts at some point.

[End BGM][Fight BGM: Poison of Snake (Gradius V)]

Meanwhile, a swarm of small, circular ships warped in to launch themselves toward us. Dubbed as the "Zub Rush", the enemies flew in with reckless abandon. We got plenty of shots in with relative ease, even though a few Zubs got lucky enough to spawn right on top of us for a fender bender. Fortunately, the damage was nothing serious. We did, however, get a little too distracted by destroying so many Zubs to even bother keeping an eye on our Contra Cruisers' power meters. Because of that, all we could activate were the laser beams.

When the Zub Rush was over, a Bacterion warship flew in to commence battle with us. Known by the Gradians as Death (at least its MK-III variation), it was more of a pseudo-Core than a BigCore variant. Its frontal door remained closed, preventing any damage on its blue core, which was also closed. To compensate, it launched waves of indestructible missiles in our direction. We merely veered out of the way and returned fire on its frontal door, repeating the pattern (despite getting shot once) until it was blown apart, exposing Death MK-III's weak spot. The core opened, but the warship continued firing its missiles, followed by charging up a huge laser beam of its own. Its attack power was intense, but luckily it missed us by a few inches. Afterwards, we unloaded on the exposed core while the warship wasn't firing its big laser. By then, the core exploded, destroying Death MK-III instantly.

Following behind was Tetran, one of the Core-style warships we fought before. Not much had changed in its attack pattern, though it remained as deadly as it could ever be. It opened up its four tentacle-like arms to swing away, and fire bullets from its arm tips. Recalling from our last encounter, we flew around the arms to avoid its gunfire, and blasted the barrier panels protecting the core within. As expected, each barrier panel that's destroyed split into a spread of suicide bullets, all flying in our direction. We barely avoided getting hit, while Tetran changed its attack pattern to spin its arms around with blazing speed. It rapidly fired its laser shots like crazy, and we still couldn't get the hang of its quick movement. We managed to catch on a little, and destroyed all of Tetran's barrier panels before taking out the core as soon as it stopped firing rapidly.

[End BGM][Boss BGM: BigCore MK-II (Gradius V)]

Immediately after Tetran detonated in a big explosion, the BigCore MK-II followed behind. Just like our previous encoutner on Earth, it was larger than the MK-I variation, bearing red streaks instead of yellow, and possessed two cores instead of one. It started its attack pattern by opening up to reveal two cores, and shot out a total of ten blue lasers up front instead of the usual four. Only with our skillful flying were we able to maneuver around the laser shots to avoid getting vaporized since we never had the gall to activate the force field on our Contra Cruisers. Then the warship thrust forth like a battering ram and zipped by, just barely missing us.

Afterwards, the BigCore MK-II returned to its original position to spin rapidly and fire its lasers randomly. Thinking back to our last encounter, we watched the laser beams' pattern carefully and dodged in order to get a clear shot at the barrier panels protecting the cores. The BigCore MK-II closed its sides again, and tilted a bit to face us before opening up for the third time. Since we're flying two space cars instead of one souped-up helicopter, we each took out one of the two cores. That way, by destroying them simultaneously, we wouldn't have to worry about the BigCore MK-II having a bigger ramming space for a counterattack. We succeeded, but the BigCore MK-II had one last trick: it used its non-functioning sides to ram itself toward us with no room to dodge this time. Flinging its arms about, it slammed into our Contra Cruisers so hard, we were sent careening towards Primus Star just as the warship detonated in a large explosion.

Our damaged cruisers fell through the atmosphere, just lucky enough to survive reentry without burning up. Finally, we crash-landed into a lush jungle, whilst redirecting the impact so it wouldn't eventually cause our Contra Cruisers to explode. Unfortunately, the impact damaged our radio communicators, severing all attempts to get in touch with Lt. Jaguar's crew.

Roughly 30 minutes had passed since the crash-landing on Primus Star. It wasn't uncommon that bad guys everywhere would sometimes pull one last trick upon defeat, simply to make sure we'd lose too. And one of the Bacterion warships succeeded, though it detonated after its two cores were destroyed. Thankfully, our Contra Cruisers didn't explode upon impact, but we were knocked out cold for a while. Neither of us would be surprised if the engines were damaged in addition to the communicators.

Ami: "Oooogh...my aching head..."Arctic Bomber: "Wh-where are we now...?"Me: "Well...unless my memory is screwy from the crash, I'd say we landed somewhere in the Woods of Esuram...at least, that's what the nearby sign to our left says."Lance: "Thank goodness for seatbelts and airbags, otherwise we'd be dead by now."Bill: "The bad news is, we can't contact our friends unless we fix our Contra Cruisers first. It'll be a while longer before we ever reach planet Gradius on time."(We stepped out of our damaged vehicles.)Ami: "Maybe Princess Millian and her royal subjects, including Pibot, can help us."Blaze Bomber: "Actually, she's a queen now, if I'm not mistaken. It's likely been three, maybe four years since Cheerful White saved Bomber Nebula from Bagular's Garaden Empire."Arctic Bomber: "Good point. So, where exactly in the woods are we?"Me: "The sign also says we're at Groog Hills. Wait, hold on a sec. CAUTION: Avoid eye contact with the two-horned Groogs if you can, as pictured below. They will chase you around unless you get as far away from them as possible."Ami: "Kinda like Primeapes, only they're miniature bulls at about our size."

Mission 3: The Woods of EsuramWith no way to contact the US Colonial Marines and the people aboard Interstellar Diamond, the Contras are on their own. They must find a way to Primus Castle in order to get help...at least before this planet becomes completely infected by the Bacterions.November 10, 20XX9:40 AM

Recalling from Bomberman Hero, there appeared to be a shortcut we could take at the end of Groog Hills, but it involved going through an underground tunnel called the Bubble Hole, followed by swimming our way through Erars Lake. Given Blaze Bomber's weakness to deep water, known to prevent him from using his flame powers, and the fact that we don't have any scuba gear, we prayed there might be a conveniently-placed submarine or motorboat around the lake. Speaking of scuba gear, there actually existed one but only as part of a series of vehicular gears which only official members of Bomber Base, such as Cheerful White, were licensed to use on occasions. Four different gears, each assigned by a special device known as the Bomber Pitch, were designed and programmed at Bomber Base for certain areas, such as the air, sea, and even a snow hill.

The first Power Gear in line was known as the Bomber Marine, resembling a miniature turbine which could be attached to its user's feet, in addition to giving him or her the ability to breathe underwater without drowning. Next was the Bomber Jet, a dual-engine jetpack attached to its user's body through its metallic strap. Though it could only go forward, the user could slow it down a bit in order to get a clear shot at the enemies. Another aerial equipment in line, attached to the top of its user's head, resembled a pair of helicopter blades simply known as the Bomber Copter. Suitable for aerial missions which involve moving around rather than just go forward (unlike the Bomber Jet), it would allow the user to hover and coast wherever and whenever.

All three of these vehicular gears have bombs as their main arsenal, only with different functionality depending on whichever gear was used -- though they retain the spherical appearance rather than resemble man-made explosives from Earth. However, only one vehicular gear did not possess said arsenal: the Bomber Slider. Resembling an everyday snowboard, its propeller allowed the user to accelerate forward downhill, and even perform a spin attack to knock over the enemies. Unfortunately, it was the most difficult to use out of all the four vehicular gears provided by the Bomber Pitch, due to its poor traction. Despite its obvious flaw, the people of Bomber Base have considered manufacturing the Bomber Slider for use in snowboarding events at the Winter Olympic Games, ever since Cheerful White showed great skills during his quest to overthrow the Garaden Empire.

Because we were not licensed to use any of the four gadgets, commandeering a conveniently-abandoned submarine or a motorboat was our only option of crossing Erars Lake safely. We snuck our way past the patrolling Groogs, until we came across the entrance to the Bubble Hole. On top of that, since we didn't plan on bringing our holy-powered gadgets for the battle against the Bacterion warships in space, we could only rely on Arctic Bomber and Blaze Bomber's powers to bail ourselves out of trouble.

Arctic Bomber: "Guys, I don't mean to sound paranoid, but won't the others think we died in the crash?"Bill: "No, I don't think so. They'll probably search around Primus Star, assuming they spot our damaged Contra Cruisers on the surface."Lance: "In other words, we'll be temporarily classified as MIA until we contact Queen Millian and Pibot for help on fixing our ride."Arctic Bomber: "If we get to them alive, you mean."(We spotted some big, slimy bubbles coming out of holes up ahead, along with a group of patrolling Bacterion walkers.)Blaze Bomber: "We've got company! Evasive maneuvers!"

[End BGM][Stage BGM: Cell (Bomberman Hero)]

The enemy walkers that attacked us were known as the Duckers. Though they pose little threat to space fighters on their own, they would get hectic when grouped with the other enemy shooters in a "bullet hell" kind of situation. For ground combat, however, they proved to be a legitimate threat to those on foot by firing at us. Arctic Bomber and Blaze Bomber distracted them by combining their ice and flame powers for their tag-team Particle Bomb attack, destroying hordes of Duckers instantly. Then we rushed our way past the stationary Bacterion cannons that fired acidic bubbles, whilst jumping over the pits and climbing our way to the end of the Bubble Hole.

We came across a docking bay, which housed small reconnaissance submarines intended for underwater travel across Erars Lake. But before we could board any of them, we were attacked by a large, hostile submarine that came out of the water. Though it was more of a Core-style warship than an illegally-modified submarine, it bore the resemblance of a large octopus. Never seen before in any of the Gradius games to date, we simply called it the Octo Core. It fired a barrage of torpedoes and missiles from its tentacles, destroying most of the recon subs in an effort to kill us. Then it rammed itself against the wall, causing some big rocks to fall over for it to grab and throw at us for more damage. We wound up injured, but were able to get back up.

Ami: "How are we gonna destroy this thing?"Me: "I see a core on its mouth, but getting past its tentacles just to blow open the barrier panels guarding the core is a different story."Arctic Bomber: "So what's the rest of the story?"Blaze Bomber: "Maybe we can use its own torpedoes and missiles against it."

The Octo Core immediately grabbed all of us with its tentacles, but Arctic and Blaze were able to break free themselves. Knowing it would attempt to drown us humans, the two Bombers destroyed its tentacles with their Particle Bomb attack, freeing us instantly. But the Octo Core immediately regrew its tentacles for another go at drowning us to death, even shielding its own protected core to prevent us from destroying it. That's when we tried another tactic: Arctic and Blaze would keep destroying the regenerating tentacles, while the rest of us grab the missiles headed our way. With our plan in action, we were finally able to penetrate its outer defenses and break the barrier panels, leaving its core defenseless. However, it caught on to our plan and fired laser beams from its eyes, blasting us off the ground and into the water.

Bill: "We have to take out the Octo Core before it destroys all of the recon subs!"Lance: "Only one chance...and I think I know how we can finish it."

The Octo Core charged its eyes for a more powerful laser beam, while firing more torpedoes and missiles. We quickly got out of the water, grabbed the explosives, and threw them straight at the eyes just as the laser beam was fired. The explosives detonated on impact, destroying the tentacles and the core simultaneously. The Octo Core shorted out, indirectly giving us a warning that if it explodes now, not only would we die, the docking bay would also collapse. We ran quickly as we could, boarding one of the recon subs that remained undamaged. With only a minute to spare, we escaped to safety just before the Octo Core detonated in a huge explosion, completely barricading Erars Lake from the Bubble Hole.

[End BGM]

Relieved from the battle, we safely made our way through the lake, which used to be filled with hostile creatures during Cheerful White's quest on Primus Star until today. However, as soon as we made it to Primus Castle and disembarked from the recon sub, hordes of Duckers were there up front. Before we could react, they incapacitated us with electricity, intent on taking us prisoner...

Mission 4: Missing in actionElsewhere above Primus Star, the US Colonial Marines had destroyed the BigCore MK-IV while the Contras were knocked all the way down onto the surface of the planet. With no possible way of communication at this rate, they are left with only one option: fly down to the surface and wipe out the Bacterion aggressors populating Primus Castle.November 10, 20XX10:13 AM

Corporals Jimbo and Sully began to worry about us, ever since they helped Lt. Jaguar's crew destroy the Bacterion warships patrolling Primus Star's orbit. They had tried again and again contact us, but there was no answer. In the end, they gave up and wondered if we did not survive the crash-landing.

Jimbo: "Sorry, sir...we just can't seem to get in touch anymore."Sully: "Yeah. Do you think we should classify them as KIA?"Lt. Jaguar (via radio): "Negative. They're not that easy to kill. I can feel it in my heart. We'll have to get down there and investigate, but until we find them, they're to be declared MIA. However, I've heard from Professor Ein that Queen Millian lives on this planet as Primus Castle's benevolent ruler. Though we can't exactly determine Aaron, Ami, Bill, Lance, Arctic, and Blaze's fates, my guess is they might have been captured at some point by the Bacterions occupying Primus Castle."Jimbo: "I thought Millian was the princess, but then again, it's likely been years since Cheerful White overthrew the Garaden Empire."Sully: "If she's in the castle, then she must be in trouble too!"Lt. Jaguar: "That seems to be the case. Your mission's to head down to Primus Star and take out the Bacterions occupying its major landmarks. I'll send in the CrygorCopter to evacuate everyone from the castle, but they'll need protection while doing so. We can't afford any civilian casualties. Good luck, and may the light of Mihaele guide you well."

The history of Bomber Nebula went back to eons ago, when it was created by the Angel of Light and Shadow. At one point, the Angel was split into two halves: Mihaele the Goddess, and Sthertoth the Demon of the Dark. Sthertoth intended to take over all creation, but Mihaele created seven elemental stones and summoned seven of her best warriors to fight off the demon. They barely stood victorious at the end, and sealed Sthertoth in an additional stone, known today as the Celestial Stone. Nowadays, the goddess would watch over the galaxy...but this was not to be the last, as the Bacterions had invaded Bomber Nebula upon discovering its existence, sparking their interest in using its planets as their personal Organic Fortresses to expand their empire.

Upon arriving on Primus Star's surface, Jimbo and Sully flew their ships around the Woods of Esuram, and noticed the damaged Contra Cruisers. They immediately confirmed we weren't really dead at all, followed by calling in a dropship to bring our vehicles out of the planet for repairs. Then they followed the other Colonial Marines into action, taking out the Bacterion aggressors along the way toward the Clock Tower, where Cheerful White fought Baruda long ago, a big bird-like monster who served Bagular with a laser cannon strapped to his belt. Just when it seemed like they did a good job destroying the enemy ships with minimal effort, they were immediately called in by Lt. Jaguar, whose voice was partially obscured over the radio by static.

Lt. Jaguar: "...repeat, under attack! Get back to Primus Castle as soon as you can!...we are under..."(The communication was cut off.)Jimbo: "You heard him, full throttle back to the castle!"Sully: "That attack on the Clock Tower was a diversion!"

[End BGM][Fight BGM: Theme of the Mechanical Boss (Salamander 2)]

During the flight back to Primus Castle, the squadron tried to figure out why the Bacterions wanted to destroy it if they've already taken over. It didn't take much to realize that with us prisoner, the enemy would take the opportunity to blow up the whole castle with us inside, then replace it with a stronghold of their own which would eventually serve as the source of their plan to convert Primus Star into an Organic Fortress.

The crew wasted no time shooting down the Bacterions bombing the castle, though it became clear the enemy was merely making way for one of their large warships: the BigCore MK-III. Since Jimbo and Sully didn't encounter it on Earth like we did, they had no clue on what to do. The BigCore MK-III, sporting three blue cores from last time, opened up and shot lasers out of its wings, followed by a reflective laser bouncing off of the other beams in a "V" pattern, destroying some ships instantly. Jimbo and Sully veered out of the way to avoid suffering the same fate and returned fire on the warship's barrier panels, all the while avoiding cycle after cycle of big lasers and reflective beams until the barrier panels were destroyed, leaving the cores open to attack.

The BigCore MK-III immediately closed up and rammed itself toward Lt. Jaguar's crew, bringing down a few more ships for an unscheduled crash-landing. Then it turned around to shoot straight and homing lasers alike out of its back, followed by a stream of bullets. Jimbo and Sully panicked, but mustered enough courage to redirect the homing lasers away from the surface so they wouldn't damage the castle upon missing them. But as the pilots were attacking its backside, it was still attacking the castle from up front.

The BigCore MK-III, having done its part, flew around in a somersault and charged up for a devastating laser beam, completely obliterating Primus Castle. Jimbo and Sully gasped, fearing they were probably too late to save everyone today, but Lt. Jaguar managed to contact them again.

Lt. Jaguar: "Jimbo, Sully, it's alright. You held them off long enough for us to evacuate every prisoner to safety. Wario, Mona, Yuffie, Cheerful White, Cool Black, and Cute Pink lent me a hand in our rescue mission aboard the Crygor Copter."Jimbo: "But the castle! Without it, Primus Star is..."Lt. Jaguar: "I know. It's a high price, but saving lives is more important."Bill: "He's right, you know."Sully: "Guys! You really had us worried for a while. We thought you were dead."Lance: "Hey, it's okay. We're usually difficult to kill in the line of duty."Sully: "Yeah, I guess so. Uh-oh, the BigCore's getting away!"(As he finished his sentence, the BigCore MK-III teleported itself out.)Lt. Jaguar: "Don't pursue it now. We don't know how many more reinforcements is has in store. You've already done your part in helping us rescue the prisoners. We'll come back for it another time once we repair our damaged ships. Besides, we need the rest of you alive and on duty."Jimbo: "Good point. We'll avenge our fallen comrades yet..."

[End BGM]

However, as soon as we left the planet to return to our three space colonies, the BigCore MK-III teleported back into the ruins of Primus Castle with its additional reinforcements, and thus began their next step in assimilating Primus Star. We were left with no other option but to get our space fighters fixed for another battle, lest we risk more casualties on our part had we pursued the warship now.

Back aboard the Interstellar Diamond, our ships were currently under maintenance for the next few hours. Though we were in the right to have retreated after the BigCore MK-III destroyed Primus Castle, Jimbo and Sully felt otherwise. They had a chance to prevent such collateral damage, but their fear for our safety kept them from destroying the warship's three cores. Just then, Yuffie walked by to talk to them.

[Reunion BGM: Meeting of Destiny (Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin)]

Yuffie: "What's wrong?"Jimbo (sighs): "Some corporals we turned out to be..."Sully: "Yeah. We were supposed to be an inspiration for our fellow marines who fought alongside us."Jimbo: "Instead, we failed to destroy that BigCore warship before it blew up the castle on Primus Star. I feel like we became a pair of cowards in just a matter of hours..."Yuffie: "C'mon, guys! You did what was right to hold off those Bacterions while I went inside with Wario, Mona, and the others to save our friends' lives. On top of that, Princess -- I mean, Queen Millian and her royal subjects are also safe, thanks to both our efforts and your own."Sully: "I know, but the Bacterions have complete control of this planet, now that Primus Castle is gone. I mean, think about it: how many battles did we Earthlings in general win, simply because the Contras were there? Battles during World War III, General Shepherd's power-mad campaign...you get the picture."Jimbo: "Aaron, Ami, Bill, Lance, and Blaze Bomber have their holy power, though Arctic Bomber's shown time and again that she turned over a new leaf and fought for the good side. We soldiers, however, are just ordinary people with guns and stuff."Yuffie: "Hey, I'm a bit ordinary too, but I'm one of the most powerful ninjas who ever lived for justice and peace on Earth. We all have talents, as well as our ups and downs. I mean, take me for example. I have a bit of an obsession with Materia, but did I ever let that stop me from protecting my close friends, let alone 9-Volt and his best pals? No!"(She sits next to Jimbo and Sully.)Yuffie: "The thing is, victories don't always have happy endings, especially if sacrifices are to be made to ensure everyone's safety. Remember when Aaron, Ami, Blaze, and Arctic took out Shepherd inside Area 51, which so happened to be government property even before he turned it into his personal hangar for all sorts of Bacterion warships?"Jimbo: "Yup. They told us all about it, but..."

Though the threesome already knew the story, Yuffie explained it anyway in order for the two soldiers to understand why victories didn't always come with happy endings. All she wanted at the moment was for them to be glad they did the right thing while she helped Lt. Jaguar, Wario, Mona, White, Black, and Pink save us, intent on doing it now so they wouldn't be distressed over the destruction of Primus Castle.

Yuffie: "Even though they won, they had to destroy the base by setting all of the stolen warships to self-destruct. They knew the risks of being held responsible for the destruction of government property, but it had to be done so the ships wouldn't activate on their own and destroy everything as they please for their one true master's arrival."Sully: "You do have a point. Well, Lieutenant Jaguar once told us this: Don't gloat over a fallen enemy, for what seems like victory at first is actually defeat sometimes. So...I guess you don't think we're cowards at all, right?"Yuffie: "Of course you're not cowards, as long as you fought bravely and gave it your all! We can still take back Primus Star and three other planets in the Bomber Nebula before it's too late! Now buck up, and show us all what you can do by taking the US Colonial Marines on a path to victory!"

With that said, Jimbo and Sully smiled, and stood up to salute Yuffie. Pondering over what she told them, they believed that's what Lieutenant Jaguar wanted from the Colonial Marines. Afterwards, they headed out to meet up with me, Ami, Bill, Lance, Blaze, and Arctic. Yuffie, on the other hand, went to see 9-Volt and Phoebe, though she was surprised that they overheard everything she said to Jimbo and Sully.

[End BGM]

Yuffie: "Hi, fellas! What's up?"9-Volt: "Nothing much, but what was going on just now?"Yuffie: "Well, nothing you need to worry about."(She smiles warmly, hugging 9-Volt.)Yuffie: "But I wanna let you know that you and Phoebe will always be brave little ninjas to me, even if you don't fight evil as much as I do."(9-Volt and Phoebe beamed happily in response.)9-Volt: "Aww, thanks, Yuffie!"Yuffie: "No problem! That's why I'm your guardian angel besides Phoebe and a couple others. Now let's get you guys something to eat, okay?"Phoebe: "Sure thing! I'm hungry, anyway."

Meanwhile, Jimbo and Sully came towards me and the other five Contras. They admittedly apologized for having worried us when they walked off sometime after we all arrived safely inside the Interstellar Diamond. Upon mentioning what Yuffie told them, we were happy to announce that they truly fought bravely while Jaguar's rescue team freed us along with Queen Millian and her royal subjects.

Jimbo: "You guys were right: retreating was our only option at this point."Sully: "In other words, better than losing our lives when we just lost Primus Castle."Blaze Bomber: "We're just glad you came to our aid when we were held prisoner."Arctic Bomber: "So anyway, what now? Back to Primus Star?"Me: "Not yet. While we were being rescued, Lt. Jaguar told us he finally managed to contact planet Gradius for assistance against the Bacterions."Ami: "It may be while before we actually see the Vic Viper for the first time in reality, so until then, we gotta do our part by freeing the rest of Bomber Nebula. By the way, I was wondering about what we saw a while ago. Y'know, the counterparts of our Contra Cruisers that came out of nowhere?"Bill: "Yeah. Why?"Ami: "I didn't think it was possible for our space cars to do time travel, unless there was some kind of alien artifact installed within."Lance: "I thought the same thing too, and asked Professor Ein about it ever since Lt. Jaguar's rescue team bailed us out. He mentioned something about a time gem that was created in ancient time on planet Bomber..."

Before Lance could finish, he was interrupted by Admiral Ares's presence. Having heard about the time gem, the admiral began his speech. "This gem, crafted sometime before Bagular's ancestor sent in the Dark Force Bombers to conquer the planet, was said to possess time-travelling capabilities. People called it the Chrono Crystal, but only intended on using it should an apocalyptic event befall their home world. Even so, the Dark Force Bombers sought for the crystal, which was the real reason Bagular's ancestor strove for wanting to cover planet Bomber in total darkness. Of course, you all know King Bomber and his fellow soldiers fought hard and imprisoned the Dark Force Bombers...Not only that, but they broke the Chrono Crystal into four pieces and scattered them across the Bomber Nebula on four neighboring planets (including their own), so no evil would ever again attempt to steal it and do as they please.

"Now that the Bacterions have overtaken planet Bomber, Primus Star, Kanatia Star, and Mazone Star, chances are they might find the pieces, reform them into the Chrono Crystal once more, and eventually, rewrite history by proclaiming themselves as omnipotent gods. Earth, Bomber, and Gradius will never be the same again, unless we act now. Go to Kanatia Star first, since its volcanic nature alone makes for an ideal base of operations. However, under no circumstances are you to engage the enemy whatsoever. I repeat, you're not to engage the enemy until after you've secured the crystal pieces on our behalf." But as the admiral finished, King Billy raised his hand in question.

King Billy: "Dude, why not? You know how dangerous those Bacterion bastards are! They'll do everything in their power to protect their soon-to-be Organic Fortresses unless we blow 'em outta existence!"Ares: "There's an old saying about stirring a hornet's nest, you know. Luckily, Kanatia Star is lightly occupied by the Bacterions at the moment, but don't waste any time. Good luck fishing for the Chrono Crystal pieces."

[End BGM]

Mission 5: Above the atmosphereIf the legend of the Chrono Crystal is true, the Bacterions will stop at nothing to find the pieces. Fortunately, they don't know of its existence...yet. But in the meantime, the Contras are charged with leading our hand-picked men toward their first destination: Kanatia Star.November 10, 20XX4:41 PM

Later, our ships - including Contra Cruisers Aqua and Flame - were repaired at last, prompting us to take off for Kanatia Star. Jimbo, Sully, and King Billy followed behind us on board their own space fighters, but just as we made it to the planet's atmosphere, we were suddenly attacked by mass numbers of Bacterion attack craft!

[Danger BGM: Chase (Gradius: The Interstellar Assault)]

King Billy: "Dang, we've been set up! It's an ambush!"Jimbo: "The admiral was only half right about the Bacterions' occupation!"Sully: "There's a super-sized BigCore heading our way! I don't think we can blow it up like this!"Blaze Bomber: "I see a moon nearby. We just might lose our pursuers if we're lucky. This way!"

After blasting some enemy ships, we focused our attention towards fleeing the super-sized BigCore MK-I. Fighting it in space was one thing, but due to the meteoroids cluttered about, we were forced to clear out instead. We avoided crashing into the meteoroids, which were easily crushed by the BigCore's size, eventually coming into the moon through its interior. The BigCore, still hot on our tail, smashed its way through some rocky walls until it crashed, unable to continue the chase anymore.

[End BGM][Stage BGM: The Ruins (Gradius: The Interstellar Assault)]

Arctic Bomber: "dam, talk about cutting it close! We almost got slammed by the falling rocks!"Lance: "Yeah, but at least we lost them. Unfortunately, we're gonna have to fly our way through to the other side in order to get out."Bill: "Everybody stay alert and watch for any signs of hostility."

Due to the darkness of the moon's interior, we turned on our Contra Cruisers' headlights, intent on staying close to our three allies so neither one would ever get lost (if not crash). As we flew our way through, we discovered what seemed to be the ruins of ancient civilization from Kanatia Star. Immediately after, the Bacterion ships came out of hiding and attacked. We fought back, gathering some power-up icons to use for reinforcing our Contra Cruisers with at least a force field and two Multiples for each of our space cars. Then we came across a giant stone statue that sported two brain-like heads (with one on its "stomach"). After careful studying, Ami and I recognized the statue as the first boss from Gradius: The Interstellar Assault.

Arctic Bomber: "Now that's one kind of boss I've never seen before!"Me: "I take it you never got to play Gradius: The Interstellar Assault on Game Boy, right? Don't worry, Ami and I will try to guide us through."

The alien statue shot a spread of bullets from its bottom head, with the top part spitting out three lethal rocks at a time. With careful guidance, we avoided enemy fire and blasted the statue's bottom head off, reducing it to gravel. Then its top head broke off the body, revealing itself as a mouth-like monster. It attached itself to the statue's "stomach", spitting a few plasma balls at a time before lunging itself toward us. King Billy panicked as his ship got hit, but was quick enough to return fire like crazy until the head returned to its body. We repeated the process, whilst making sure to avoid taking more damage, until the head and statue exploded into a big pile of rocks, thus opening the way out of the moon's interior.

[End BGM]

King Billy: "As Arctic would say: talk about cutting it close!"Arctic Bomber: "Right back at ya."Blaze Bomber: "We should able to make our way onto the surface of Kanatia Star."Me: "The Chrono Crystal piece we're looking for is hidden within one of the three main areas we were told about."Ami: "Lavana Volcano, Death Pyramid, Kanatia Shrine...who knows?"Bill: "Even if it's not hidden inside the volcano, we still have to blast the Bacterions out of there. It'd be dangerous to leave it unchecked for all we know..."

Mission 6: Kanatia StarThis was the third planet Cheerful White solely explored to find the then-Princess Millian, who was held captive by the Garaden Empire at the time. According to the Interstellar Diamond's archives, White fought and defeated Bolban, a large sphinx-like creature who served Bagular, at Kanatia Shrine.Today, the Bacterions are attempting to convert Kanatia Star into one of their personal Organic Fortresses, using the shrine and two other major areas -- Lavana Volcano and Death Pyramid -- as their outposts. If they are not stopped, the planet's volcanic nature could spell imminent disaster for our three space colonies.November 10, 20XX5:16 PM

Our first stop upon arrival was the Lavana Volcano, where its heated interior was so intense you'd have to rely on the conveniently-placed Cooling Capsules like in Bomberman Hero just to keep yourself from dying on the spot. Luckily, the Crygors expected our journey to be quite literally hot, so they came prepared with about nine sets of Varia clothing for us to wear before we took off for Kanatia Star. As soon as we landed at the safest spot where it wasn't so hot, we wore the Varia clothes over our casual outfits.

King Billy: "Feels like we're playing Metroid when we're wearing these clothes, only now it's real, doesn't it?"Arctic Bomber: "You can say that again. I don't think my ice powers alone can keep this intense heat from killing us."Ami: "Or my Ice Bombs, for that matter. The only question is: how can the Bacterions survive the extremity of the Lavana Volcano?"Blaze Bomber: "It's likely they're reinforced with a certain kind of alloy for survival in heated areas."Me: "In some Gradius games, notably Gradius IV for example, the Bacterions have at least one fiery guardian amongst their line of defense on behalf of their grand master."Arctic Bomber: "I remember playing this game through Gradius III & IV on the PS2. I never could get past the second-half of that volcano stage without relying on the Konami Code just to get myself out of a jam."King Billy: "Speaking of jam, I don't get why our admiral said we're not supposed to fight the Bacterions. I know he's concerned for our safety, but I find it extremely difficult to believe that getting a Chrono Crystal piece without fighting hordes of those mechs is possible."Arctic Bomber: "My thoughts exactly. I may not be the brightest Bomber-person in the galaxy, but knowing the Bacterions, they'll go to extreme lengths to guard their precious resources, and attempting a stealth tactic in their territory is just downright impossible. So at this point, I don't care what Ares told us. If he wants to demote us because we had to fend off the Bacterions, fine, but one thing I learned from Bill and Lance is that the safety of innocent lives comes first, even if it means risking our own."(She pauses momentarily to let out a sigh.)Arctic Bomber: "Sergeants Mad Dog and Scorpion chose to die valiantly alongside their men of Delta Force during World War III, but mostly so our friends would live while we finished the job in one piece. In short, we either live for nothing or die for something."Jimbo: "You're absolutely right, Arctic, though we do need each other alive, and so does Lt. Jaguar."Sully: "Not just to find the crystals, but also to free the four planets of Bomber Nebula from the Bacterions."

We got out some fireproof mountain-climbing gear, and made a careful descent throughout the Hades Crater inside the Lavana Volcano. Approximately five generators were stationed nearby to keep the entrance to the Magma Lake locked. Long ago, they were stationary when Cheerful White took them out with the help of his Bomber Copter gear in order to proceed further into the volcano. Today, however, the generators were now mounted with laser guns, apparently rebuilt by the Bacterions. Blaze Bomber tried calling Penny Crygor to send me, Bill, and Lance some useful power-ups -- preferably the Homing Missiles -- but all he heard was static. Given the tight situation we're in, Blaze could only assume the volcanic nature to have caused the interference. Luckily, Arctic Bomber had her Neo Contra Rifle equipped this time, since it held three different weapons at once (each with its own charge shot). Thinking quickly, she switched over to the Diver Mines, and charged up for a salvo of Homing Missiles. One wave after another, she assisted us in destroying the generators, while I helped Ami, Bill, and Lance take out the stationary turrets firing at us. Roughly five minutes later, we landed safely on the rocky surface and hopped our way across the lava to enter the Magma Lake.

Bill: "Now begins our trip inside the volcano, so stay sharp!"Lance: "Whatever you do, do not fall over. I cannot stress this enough."

The moment we began the trek, we were immediately attacked by flaming rocks flying out of the magma. Though they were destructible, they split into smaller fireballs that could not be destroyed everytime we shoot them. Obviously, the Bacterions control the volcano as this did not happen in Bomberman Hero. On the other hand, it did bring back memories of the fire stage from Gradius III...well, mostly the Japan-only arcade version since the smaller fireballs can't be destroyed like in the SNES version.

Ami: "There's too many fireballs, and I can only throw so many Ice Bombs at once! Oh, if only we had the Ice Breath power-up for Aaron's Contra Rifle, along with Bill and Lance's M16 machine guns..."Blaze Bomber: "I already tried contacting Penny and her grandpa. Something must have gone wrong while we were pursued into one of Kanatia Star's moons."King Billy: "The magma's heat is too much for even Arctic's ice powers to neutralize! I suggest we RUN!"

As we ran closer to the end of the Magma Lake and into the Magma Dam, we were ambushed by a flaming, three-headed dragon known (and seen only in the Japan-only arcade version of Gradius III) as Wyvern. Blaze Bomber opened up a fireproof satchel and pulled out a portable scanner, disguised as a smartphone. While searching for the beast, it picked up something unusual within the body.

Blaze Bomber: "According to the scanner, that monster is fused with the Flamethrower data from our Contra power-up generator. I'm beginning to think the Bacterions must have stolen the power-ups while we were ambushed in space!"Arctic Bomber: "Oh, great! That means no Spread Gun, Homing Missiles, or any other power-ups until we get the respective data back for that generator of yours!"Me: "Then we'll have to recover the Flamethrower power-up before getting the Chrono Crystal piece!"

The Wyvern roared at us, spewing a stream of fire along with a barrage of fireballs from his three heads as he flew around. Most of the time, the blue core on his chest was exposed, thus giving us the opportunity to fight back. Unfortunately, the fight was difficult because of the flaming rocks constantly coming at us from the magma. Arctic Bomber quickly switched over to the Heavy Machine Gun, charging up for one Round Sweep after another. She followed up by freezing the smaller fireballs with her blizzard, while Jimbo, Sully, and King Billy kicked them towards the Wyvern's weak spot. With a roar of agony, the beast broke up into nothing but a two-headed fire serpent, the Vulture Dragon. We continued running towards the exit to a crystal cavern (known as the Crystal Hole). Thinking the Chrono Crystal piece might be there, we wasted no time blasting the Vulture Dragon's heads whilst surrounded by his body. As soon as the heads were gone, the flame serpent harmlessly broke into pieces across the Magma Dam, dying only seconds later.

Blaze Bomber: "The lava monster coughed up the Flamethrower power-up data! I'll secure it for our safe return now."(He opened up his satchel and stored both the power-up data and the scanner.)Bill: "It's really amazing on how the Bacterions can fuse certain computer data with an organic beast like the one we just fought. Now implementing one within a mechanical ship, let alone a BigCore, I can understand."

Finally, after all we had been through, we got ourselves a break as we explored the Crystal Hole. The crystal mechs we encountered didn't pose much of a threat. Just then, Blaze Bomber's scanner detected the presence of the Chrono Crystal piece we were looking for.

Ami: "My suspicions were correct! The crystal piece IS hidden within the Lavana Volcano after all!"Me: "It looks red unlike all the other crystals. I think we'll call it the Kanatia Ruby for the time being."King Billy: "Sounds good to me. Now we can free Kanatia Star from Bacterion assimilation!"

[End BGM][Fight BGM: Dark Force I (Gradius III (SNES))]

Henceforth, we called in the autopilot from our two Contra Cruisers, thus bringing them to our current position. We all managed to fit inside since each space car can hold up to five people at once. Afterwards, we flew off further into the Crystal Hole, eventually coming across the Emerald Tube where the Bacterions were guarding a big brain-like core for their personal Organic Fortress. Since the assimilation was in its early stages, we had little to no resistance to put up with as we fought our way toward Kanatia Star's mantle. The only thing guarding the mechanical brain itself was a fortified gun wall, codenamed Disrupt like in Gradius III. It sported three green cores which needed to be destroyed; fortunately, the gun turrets were destructible -- though its plasma shots were not. Beyond that, it didn't do much rather than send out wave after wave of Duckers from its four hatches to fend us off. Though we only got to activate one Multiple for each Contra Cruiser along the way, it was still enough to get us past the gun wall by blowing its parts and cores to pieces, causing it to explode into scrap metal.

Lance: "Typically, the mechanical brain of an Organic Fortress is defenseless, so taking it out should be a snap after all we've been through today."

We flew across the metallic gates closing behind our trail, and reached the brain-like core encased in a glass tank. Wasting no time whatsoever, we unloaded on the core until it detonated in the following explosion; then the metallic structure began to collapse, with the occupying Bacterions self-destructing all over Kanatia Star. With maximum velocity on our Contra Cruisers, we evacuated safely to the surface and back to Jimbo, Sully, and King Billy's own ships for them to follow suit as we left the planet.

Arctic Bomber: "We did it! We saved Kanatia Star and its three major areas before the infection could spread!"King Billy: "Now we just need to do the same for the other three planets. Whaddya say we head on to Primus Star and take it back from enemy control?"Jimbo: "Best idea you've said all day, only this time, we're at your side."Sully: "Amen to that, Jimbo."

Upon returning from Kanatia Star roughly two hours later, we temporarily ceased our campaign to take a breather, in addition to having ourselves a well-deserved dinner. Afterwards, Lt. Jaguar summoned us to Admiral Ares's command bridge aboard the space colony he's in charge of, rather than the Interstellar Diamond we're usually assigned to. Firstly, he examined the Chrono Crystal piece we just acquired, before allowing us to state any reports we found.

Jimbo: "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we were again forced to face off against the Bacterions. It was the only way to restore Kanatia Star back to its former glory."Sully: "In addition, we also fought an alien monster with an unusual capability to utilize one of the Contras' power-ups, apparently stolen."Ares: "Hmm...most perplexing, and admittedly unexpected. It seems the Bacterions have taken an interest in fusing some of their most formidable mechs and organic underlings alike with these power-ups of your friends'."King Billy: "Now I know you told us not to engage the enemy, but we had no choice. We were ambushed for Pete's sake!"Ares: "Yes, yes, I heard all about it, but I will let it slide this time because we need you alive. From now on, you will use careful discretion. That includes the six of you."(He eyed me, Ami, Bill, Lance, Blaze Bomber, and Arctic Bomber.)Ares: "Because your power-ups are stolen, you must be even more careful with your moves. If by any chance you encounter another organic beast or a BigCore warship that so happens to be fused with a stolen power-up, just run. Don't even think about engaging either one."Bill: "With all due respect, these power-ups mean so much to us. We've used them wisely to get ourselves out of big messes before."Lance: "Bill's right. That fiery Wyvern nearly killed us. We have to get rid of all the other killing machines that also possess the power-up data."Ares: "...Alright. I understand. But do come back with the other Chrono Crystal pieces alive, and bring them directly to me. I'll figure out a way to implement the time-travelling capabilities into our space colonies, and eventually prevent all the tragic events that occurred since day one of this Interdimensional War. However, under no circumstances are you to attempt to use the Chrono Crystal without my authorization."Arctic Bomber: "But Professor Ein said--"Ares: "That's a negatory, Arctic! Even if the stories are true, you still don't know what power you're playing with. Hell, you could end up in the Stone Age for all we know."Arctic Bomber (sighs): "Good point. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask why you insist we hand over the pieces to you..."Ares: "That's classified, soldier. Anyway, you have the okay to engage the enemy in an effort to recover all the Chrono Crystal pieces, but I will say this once more: absolutely no touching it for whatever reason when it's whole again. Now, before you go, hand me the piece you got."Blaze Bomber: "Yes, sir."(He reluctantly gives up the piece.)Ares: "Thank you. You're dismissed for now, and good hunting."

Right after we left the command bridge to return to the Interstellar Diamond, we shared our doubts about the briefing addressed by Admiral Ares. Why he insisted on holding the Chrono Crystal pieces until they're whole again, even going so far as to tell us that only he had the right to use the artifact, was beyond our comprehension. But even so, this further cemented Arctic Bomber and King Billy's distrust for the admiral. They wanted to get to the bottom of this once and for all, having felt that Ares had been keeping us in the dark for quite some time.

Me: "Wait, you and King Billy are going back to Admiral Ares's military space colony? We don't have the authority to go there unless told otherwise."Arctic Bomber: "I know, but I just have this gut feeling that he can't be trusted. I'm gonna find out his real motives, and exactly why he wants us to hand over the Chrono Crystal pieces to him. I mean, seriously, us holding onto said pieces ain't gonna kill anyone! Hmph, end up in the Stone Age my ass..."Blaze Bomber: "We're all aware of why he wants them in his hands and not ours, but we can't just rush on in and call him out unless we have proof of evidence. Besides, his space colony is filled to the brim with his own soldiers -- ones who aren't under Lt. Jaguar's command to begin with."King Billy: "I hate to take sides, but Arctic's right. We're gonna get our evidence, then publicize it to everyone on board the other two space colonies, including our own! Dr. Crygor and Professor Ein can figure out how to work the Chrono Crystal with or without the admiral's permission, can't they?"Ami: "Yeah, but...we still have to recover the other three pieces and free the respective planets of the Bacterions' assimilation. Plus, we're to rendezvous with the Vic Viper. Lt. Jaguar told us the pilot, codenamed T-301, is expected to arrive soon enough, so we can free said planets altogether."Jimbo: "And this time, we'll get even with the BigCore MK-III for blowing up Primus Castle on behalf of Queen Millian and her people!"Sully: "Arctic, if you have to sit this one out in order to investigate, that's fine. But try to come back alive."Arctic Bomber: "Will do. I have a sneaky suspicion Ares wants the pieces for himself. King Billy and I will sneak aboard his military station."Me: "Okay, and the rest of us will free Primus Star for real, then planet Bomber."

Mission 7: Stealth entranceHaving shown enough distrust in the last few hours, Arctic Bomber has taken it upon herself to discover Admiral Ares's real intentions, with King Billy tagging alongside her. But to get past the military station's top-notch security is another story...November 10, 20XX6:34 PM

During the journey, Arctic Bomber asked King Billy about the three Rich Bombers: Fashion Bomber, Heavy Bomber, and Bling Bomber. Her reason for this question now was because as she says, she didn't have the time due to the missions at hand. Billy responded with an answer in which he actually left them in charge of his Money Dynasty castle while he had to be away with her and the rest of us. He didn't want to risk losing them again like he almost did when they were corrupted one time, though he preferred not to go into detail about it to anyone.

Arctic Bomber: "Now let's see what makes us tick..."King Billy: "Yeah, but we gotta be careful. There's crap-loads of guards aboard that station!"

[End BGM]

(Suddenly, an alarm went off.)King Billy: "AAAH! How'd they know we're here?!"Ares (via intercom): "Attention all personnel of this space colony! The Bacterions have returned! If anyone can hear this, please come and help! They've just locked me in my own command bridge!"(The guards scattered about, in order to assess the situation.)King Billy: "What was that all about?"Arctic Bomber: "I dunno, but whoever's leading the attack must be linked to the stolen power-up data. Still, I smell something afoul about this."

Immediately, the duo came under attack by the Duckers that fired on them without mercy. Arctic dodged the oncoming fire and blew the walkers to scrap with her Bowling Bombs, followed by a barrage of ice shards. It wasn't long until they reached the entrance to the command bridge, when they were confronted by a large brain-like monster, known as the Brain Golem. This was the same organic beast she ran into alongside me, Ami, and Blaze Bomber back on Earth when General Shepherd was alive and using Area 51 as his personal hangar for the stolen Bacterion warships. All memories aside, she and King Billy avoided the tentacles that sprouted from the Brain Golem's body. The moment its eye opened, Arctic pulled out her Neo Contra Rifle, switched to the Fire Whip, and unleashed a barrage of charged up Energy Shots, whilst drawing its attention away from her former rival. In less than a minute, she stood victorious as the final blow reduced the Brain Golem to scorched guts. Then she kicked the door open to access the command bridge, only to hear a voice blaring repeatedly, WARNING: NO ENTRY WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION.

King Billy: "Huh?! But the admiral said..."Arctic Bomber (interrupting): "I thought so. There really is something afoul about this attack. Admiral Ares is hiding something, and we're gonna find out right now."(She heads downstairs, and sees a shocking discovery...)

[Suspense BGM: Tension (Super Metroid)]

Arctic Bomber: "Oh my Lord...Billy, are you seeing this?"King Billy: "So that's why Ares said not to engage the enemy. I knew his warnings were too good to be true!"Arctic Bomber: "My thoughts exactly, but this is impossible! The Weyland-Yutani Corporation ceased all operations on the Bacterions and disbanded after that court case was closed!...unless..."Ares: "Not unless the Company never really disbanded at all? Well, I tried keeping this confidential until after the Chrono Crystal is whole again. I've been calm, nice, and cool about your suspicions, but you kept forcing me to take extreme measures. We're merely doing what's right for not only the United States, but our entire planet Earth as well. These Bacterions you see are in fact cloned from the DNA we were lucky to have saved before you inadvertently blew up Area 51. Imagine building countless hordes of these remarkable beings from scratch..."(Arctic and King Billy thought for a moment.)King Billy: "Lemme get this straight: So the discovery of the Bomber Nebula's existence by the Bacterions, in addition to the attack that occurred the absolute moment we stepped inside your military station...that was you?"Ares: "I am only following orders like you should have been doing right from the start. We've taken further interest in the Bacterions and how they reproduce through assimilation of a planet. For peaceful purposes only, of course. And the Contra-themed power-ups of yours? Well, let's just say it's all part of a beta test to see how perfectly their warships and organic creatures can fuse with said data and utilize them in battle. I intended to keep you in the dark until the end, but you forced my hand. We at Weyland-Yutani do not tolerate petty criminals like you who would dare to destroy government property."Arctic Bomber: "Government property?! The Bacterions are heartless abominations! They don't care who they murder or what they destroy, so long as they're able to reproduce with these personal Organic Fortresses! It's all in their friggin' instincts to expand their huge-ass hive!"Ares: "The only 'heartless abominations' are those terrorists who plague the Earth remorselessly for their own personal gain! Human or alien, they have been left alive for far too long. But with the Bacterions we're cloning at the moment, everything will soon change. Any terrorist who dares attack us will be utterly wiped out tenfold...or should I say hundred-fold. Believe me, we never wanted to do this, but your acts and motives alike forced us to look in the other direction, firstly by going underground. Not to mention the time you blatantly damaged Weyland-Yutani's reputation in the Supreme Court by discrediting Carter Burke -- our current CEO, if you will -- and his evidence. Furthermore, when I say classified, I mean classified! But nooo, you insist on destroying government property because they're 'heartless abominations'!"

At this, King Billy smacked his own forehead in disgust, especially at Admiral Ares's twisted delusions. Arctic Bomber felt the same, though she tried getting her former rival to keep his cool since he wasn't involved in helping me, Ami, Blaze Bomber, and her to get rid of the stolen warships during General Shepherd's reign. She didn't want him to suffer like we almost did.

King Billy: "Arctic, I know you're worried about me, but can you believe this guy? I mean, he keeps using the term 'government property'. I don't think it means what he thinks it means."Ares: "On the contrary, my despicable terrorists, it's the two of you who don't get it. We've been at our bioweapons division ever since the Alien Wars, but only for the purpose of assuring the absolute safety of our planet. No black-hearted villain will ever think about threatening our lives forevermore! But if you're not part of our solution, you're part of the problem. Either you cease your personal vendetta and do your dam job of recovering the Chrono Crystal pieces for both me and our CEO, or we will have no choice but to brand you, your five fellow Contras, and Corporals Jimbo and Sully as criminals!"King Billy: "Oh, we're doing our job alright...and that's by protecting the Chrono Crystal pieces from both the Bacterions and your sleazy goons as well!"Ares: "Not while we still live to rejuvenate the crystal itself! Our beloved planet Earth has been polluted nonstop with immorality, greed, envy, hate, and lust for war, but once the Chrono Crystal is reassembled, we at Weyland-Yutani will change all that with rational and orderly power. Think about it: with the Bacterions at our command, these negative terms I've stated just now will have never existed to begin with."Arctic Bomber: "Hmph. Sounds like Red Falcon talk to me. I've served him and his intergalactic henchmen for a long time before I reformed myself, and I've seen worse -- a LOT worse! One thing I learned: if you combat evil with evil, you risk taking a turn for the worse upon yourself and those you care deeply about."Ares: "Fine. If you're not with Weyland-Yutani, then you are against us. Sooner or later, everyone who's survived will have learned to never trust your kind again!"Arctic Bomber: "Billy, you've got to warn everyone on board the Interstellar Diamond and its neighboring space colony, especially Lt. Jaguar and his Colonial Marines! I'll do what I can to destroy this storage chamber along with Ares, Burke...and myself, if I have to."King Billy: "No, Arctic! I'm not letting you die like this!"Arctic Bomber: "Take my Neo Contra Rifle in case the corrupt admiral's boys attempt to kill you. Remember what I taught you about using it. I'll be fine, just go! GO!!"King Billy (nervously): "G-g-got it!"

[End BGM][Alert BGM: Tension before a Core-X (Metroid Fusion)]

While Billy Bling ran off with the rifle to warn everyone, the rogue admiral brought forth three Bomberman-esque androids, claiming them to have been formed through the combination of Bomberman data and Bacterion DNA as part of his personal experiment. In addition, he had also implemented the stolen power-up data into their bodies, with successful results. He was now ready to make sure not one of us would ever live to spread the truth to the media and the people.

Ares: "Indeed you are formidable, and yet still you insist on destroying government property like you did before, is that it? So typical, so predictable...and so stupid! Arctic Bomber, meet Weyland-Yutani's latest additions to our army: the Contra Killers. Each of them is programmed specifically to, as their title implies, kill you. And that goes double for Aaron, Ami, Bill, Lance, and of course, Blaze Bomber. As a matter of fact, whoever is caught harboring any of you will be utterly destroyed without mercy. With that said, let's begin testing the hypothesis of our exquisite experiment, shall we?"

Trapped in a confrontation with Admiral Ares and the three Contra Killers, Arctic Bomber swore to take it upon herself to destroy them along with the Bacterions inside his space station, intent on sacrificing her life for ours. Though she strove for her own winter kingdom on Earth, she knew the difference between right and wrong. Ares, however, wasn't about to give up on his twisted scheme to "eliminate" all sources of terrorism on Earth, along with the four planets from within the Bomber Nebula.

Ares: "The problem with democracy in today's world is that it never comes with an opportunity to eradicate all traces of terrorism off the face of the Earth, let alone prevent immorality, greed, and the like. They'd rather fight, but everything will change when we breed enough Bacterions to assimilate the international villains' personal territories. They shall feel the same pain they dished out on our beloved people. Either they give in, or they die! Besides, you too wanted justice and peace on Earth, right?"Arctic Bomber: "Well, yeah, but not through assimilation or the threat of force!"Ares: "Think about it: we're all after the same goal. We want evil purged from the Earth, so that they might never again think about threatening our lives anymore. We could be gods, and create a new world where no family will ever lose their loved ones...because of some terrorist attack. We should be working together instead of against each other! But since you blatantly refused, I have no choice but to brand you and your close friends as terrorists! All must die at any cost!"Arctic Bomber (groans): "Terrorist, shmerrorist...you keep using that freakin' word! I don't think it means what you think it means. Polluting the planet with a huge hive of Bacterions will only make things a lot worse than they already are! Man and Bomber alike will be long gone!"Ares: "That's where you're wrong! By reassembling the Chrono Crystal, all we need is one time travel and poof! No more crime, no more greed, and even no more wars..."Arctic Bomber: "And no choice. You and your Weyland-Yutani goons want absolute power! In fact, the Bacterions don't care if evil is depleted from history. They'll just keep dishing out their own terrorism to prolong their existence across the universe! It's all in their freaking instincts! Oh yeah, I almost forgot: you share your first name with the Greek god of war himself, sometimes referred to as Mars! You may not be related to him, but you sure as hell are like him! I take it you and your co-workers have learned nothing from what we've done to save Earth from the evil forces of Red Falcon and his army of intergalactic cutthroats and rogue Bombermen alike! I mean, sure, we Contras dedicate our lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil, but infecting the entire world with Bacterions just to eliminate them would only do more harm than good! GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL!"Ares: "So, that's how it's gonna be, is it? Fine. We'll just waste you anyway. Don't even think your friend can change my soldiers' minds, because they're all -- you guessed it -- cloned from my DNA. You just couldn't tell because of the armorsuits they wear."Arctic Bomber: "Innocent lives would be lost during your so-called mission to kill us! We could sue your ass in retaliation!"Ares: "Not anymore. You've had your chance to turn over a new leaf and work with us, and you blew it. It's time for you and your five other Contras to die with all your friends. You of all people need to understand we are no terrorist organization, but rather a herald, doing what's right in our mission to cleanse all sinners with the flames of judgment. However, in order for humanity to survive, the Interstellar Diamond and its neighboring space colony must die firsthand. It'd be pointless to make everyone on board think you're terrorists if they won't listen to reason, anyway. Spread Garnet, Laser Amethyst, Homing Jasper...she's all yours."

[End BGM][Fight BGM: Masker (Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!)]

With a snap from his fingers, Ares took his leave, with Arctic glaring at him one last time before fending for herself against the Contra Killers. Since the Weyland-Yutani Corporation was apparently after the same goal as we are in bringing peace to Earth, she viewed them and the traitorous admiral as a group of extremists half the time.

Arctic Bomber: "We're not through with this yet! Once I trash your creations and recover the stolen power-ups, we'll expose you to the public for the extremist that you are! And who the hell names a group of rogue Bombermen like that, anyway?"Spread Garnet: "The only 'rogue Bombermen' around are you and Blaze Bomber of the corrupt-as-ever Contras! I'm Spread Garnet, Mistress of Spread Fire!"Laser Amethyst: "The great Carter Burke doesn't take kind to terrorists who deliberately blow up Weyland-Yutani's government property, and neither do we. My name is Laser Amethyst, the Reflective Jewel."Homing Jasper: "Though I appear to be the only male of the Contra Killers, I'm not any less dangerous since I possess one of your most reliable Contra power-ups. The name's Homing Jasper, the Heat-seeking Marksman. And guess what else? We're gonna kill you first!"Spread Garnet: "Enough talk! It's time to test your wits against the power-ups your fellow Contras often use! Ready to die?"Arctic Bomber: "I didn't come all the way here just to be killed by such cheap knockoffs! But since you put it that way, let's dance!"Laser Amethyst: "Ha ha ha! I wouldn't take us so lightly if I were you. Not convinced? Then we'll just show you exactly why."

The three Contra Killers, whilst resembling an everyday rogue Bomberman, had jewel-like armor for bodies in addition to color-matching malevolent eyes, except their faces. Spread Garnet's appearance shone red as based on the gem she was named after, whereas Laser Amethyst's bluish purple dress wasn't just all beauty; given her title, it could also deflect some shots, let alone laser beams (and her own). As for Homing Jasper, his armor and combat boots appeared to be brownish red-orange, but unlike his female partners, he didn't care for beauty as long as he's able to kill people with our own respective power-up data embedded within his body.

Homing Jasper: "I'd tan your hide right away, but lucky for you, I'm not above disallowing women to go first. Spread Garnet, Laser Amethyst, show this deluded intruder how to use her dear friends' own Spread Gun and Laser Beam."Arctic Bomber: "Oh no, you don't! You're giving us back our Contra power-ups right now! Everything you and your creator say about us being criminals is a dadburn lie!"

The Mistress of the Cold fired a barrage of ice shards, which Laser Amethyst deflected with her own body effortlessly. Thinking quickly, she had an assumption that reflective armor can't deflect explosions, so she pulled out her Bowling Bombs next. Spread Garnet mocked her attempt by firing a spread shot at her, setting off the bombs prematurely in her face. Afterwards, she raised both her hands and doubled the spread fire, twisting herself around in a tornado fashion. Laser Amethyst used the opportunity to deflect her comrade's own shots off her body, making it more difficult for Arctic Bomber to avoid taking more damage.

Laser Amethyst: "Now you see why you shouldn't take us so lightly! Spread Garnet, let's give her a Bullet-Laser Hell Storm!"Spread Garnet: "I couldn't agree with you more!"

Laser Amethyst commenced the tag team attack first by tossing four big, spherical gems in the air, and shot some laser beams from her fingertips to deflect back and forth through the gems. She also controlled the movement of the gems with her fingers so they would remain in midair for as long as she pleased. Arctic Bomber panicked and unleashed the strongest snowstorm she could muster, but the gem-bodied Contra Killers weren't blinded or frozen one bit, nor were the laser shots negated. Spread Garnet fired her plasma bullets wildly, inflicting more unavoidable damage along with the deflected laser beams. Finally, Homing Jasper completed his comrades' tag team attack by blasting Arctic Bomber with his wave of guided missiles while she was down. In the end, she was easily defeated, unprepared for what she had just witnessed before her eyes.

Spread Garnet: "Aww, how sad. You came all the way here to destroy government property, only to have your ass handed to you in minutes."Homing Jasper: "Our attacks are twice as powerful as your precious power-ups, thanks to the Bacterion DNA fused with our well-being."Laser Amethyst: "Don't even think your friends can undo the assimilation on the remaining planets of the Bomber Nebula! We'll be coming for them sooner than they realize, but in the meantime, feel free to struggle for your life against an experimental BigCore our admiral whipped up."(The Contra Killers teleported out.)Arctic Bomber (weakly): "dam...you...bastards..."

[End BGM]

With the ex-Hate Bomber knocked unconscious, it was all up to King Billy Bling to warn everyone aboard the Interstellar Diamond and its neighboring space colony. Miraculously, he made it back alive to tell the story, then he asked if we were okay.

Millian: "Yes, they're alright. They've gone back to Primus Star with Jimbo and Sully to deplete the Bacterion population at the source."King Billy: "That's good news, but what about the Chrono Crystal piece? Surely your people knows of its whereabouts!"Pibot (voice like C-3PO): "You mean the Primus Emerald? It's still intact and out of the Bacterions' grasp. In fact..."(He opened up a hatch on his chest, revealing the crystal piece itself.)Yuffie: "Is that...?"Pibot: "It can now be told. I have always had the Primus Emerald in my body. Sometime after the Chrono Crystal was split into four pieces, our people buried this shard deep within Primus Castle to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. When the Bacterions appeared, we ran as fast as we could in order to save the shard, which Queen Millian was able to store inside my body before we were captured. Luckily, nobody knows where it is...yet."Millian: "But what can we do? If Weyland-Yutani had indeed stockpiled these mechanical monsters for their own personal gain, then they're likely to come after us."Cheerful White: "Don't worry, Queen Millian. We'll be ready for them no matter what it takes."Cute Pink: "I'm with White on this one. Lt. Jaguar and his men will protect us."Lt. Jaguar: "With the Contras fighting alongside Jimbo, Sully, and the Vic Viper, your fair kingdom will be restored."(He turns to his soldiers who were not killed on Primus Star.)Lt. Jaguar: "Okay men, listen up! We've just received an important discovery, in which Admiral Ares Pierce had been secretly stockpiling the cloned Bacterions for his own schemes. Apparently, it turned out Weyland-Yutani didn't really disband like they were supposed to after the court case was dismissed. Now they are gunning for us in retaliation, but we can't hesitate...for the admiral's own soldiers are not human at all in accordance to our friends' discovery. It's do or die time! Let's move!"

[Boss BGM: Boss Rush Part 1 (Gradius Gaiden)]

Meanwhile, down on Primus Star's surface at the ruins of Primus Castle, we were pitted against the same BigCore MK-III that Jimbo and Sully encountered earlier. This time, the Vic Viper joined in the fight to ensure the restoration of the nearly-infected planet. Though not much had changed from last time, the BigCore MK-III was now equipped with sharp drills to protect its main body should its two frontal cores be destroyed. Blaze Bomber did a quick scan, concluding that it now possessed our Drill Shot. Thus the battle began anew, only Jimbo and Sully were not so afraid anymore since we Contras were at their side.

Jimbo: "Okay, you metallic bastard, it's payback time for what you did to Primus Castle!"Sully: "This is for Queen Millian and her beloved people!"Vic Viper T-301 (male voice): "Keep your wits about you, everyone! That BigCore isn't any less dangerous than it ever was!"Me: "We're not surprised. The only way in like on Kanatia Star is through the killing machine."Ami: "Attack!!"

The BigCore MK-III opened up and shot two large lasers out of its wings, followed by firing two reflective lasers out of its main body in a "V" formation around the big beams. Then it added an extra attack of its own by launching drill missiles straightforward, making it difficult for us to avoid enemy fire. We were hit, but luckily it was just minor...at least for the moment. The Vic Viper brought out two Multiples and equipped an Energy Laser for this fight, having acquired some power-up pods from downed enemies along the way. We backed up the pilot with one Multiple for each of our two Contra Cruisers, as well as the Ripple Laser. While it was only half as powerful as the standard Laser, it could clear weaker enemies in a breeze.

Vic Viper T-301: "Well...not as deadly as the chargeable Energy Laser, but it might come in handy when we get closer to the brain core inside."

The BigCore MK-III fired some drill missiles again, but T-301 was ready for it. He charged up the oval-shaped Energy Laser bursts on his ship and Multiples alike, and released them toward the cores, piercing through the missiles in the process. Once the two frontal cores were totaled, the enemy warship lost its reflective laser cannons and thus resorted to shooting small laser shots and drill missiles. We circled around to draw its fire, while Jimbo and Sully put aside their fears in order to settle the score once and for all. With careful timing, they took out the last core, not only causing the BigCore MK-III to detonate in a large explosion, but also avenging the loss of Primus Castle. The destruction of the warship coughed up an energy pod containing the data for our Drill Shot, which we recovered without delay.

Suddenly, a large hatch appeared from the ruins of the castle, prompting us to fly inside. From there, we performed the same routine as with the Organic Fortress on Kanatia Star: fight past the inner defense line, blow the fortified gun wall codenamed "Disrupt" to pieces, and destroy the brain core at the end. As soon as we did our objective, the fortress collapsed in on itself as the Bacterions died with it, eventually purifying Primus Star once more right when we flew out. We now had two more planets to save, but little did we know that the Contra Killers were secretly hot on our tail, having falsely branded us as criminals on behalf of Admiral Ares and Carter Burke...

On behalf of his superior Carter J. Burke, Admiral Ares proceeded to broadcast his speech to everyone on board the non-military space colonies, intent on hunting us down so neither one would ever live to tell the story to the people of planets Earth and Bomber.

Attention all citizens of the two neighboring space colonies: it is imperative the Weyland-Yutani Corporation shall declare martial law. Your terrorist friend, Arctic Bomber, has breached her way into our military space station with an intent to expose us. Since it's very likely our classified information reached your minds, you are to be taken alive. Either you submit, or we will have to take a step further to make certain that all sinners are to never come back again. It pains me to have to do this, but let me assure you we are no terrorist organization. We are doing everything in our power to build better worlds...however, in order for the human race to survive, a deal had to be made with the Bacterions. Only by having them around can our planet Earth be cleansed of all terrorism, war crime, immorality and the like. The assimilation of the four planets within the Bomber Nebula was but an incredible discovery of what Bacterion technology can do. Your friends have breached our top secret areas and destroyed our government property long enough, and for that, they must die.

Yuffie: "Ugh. All of us here are against terrorism, but his concept is just completely twisted beyond the shadow of a doubt!"King Billy: "I know, right? He's a freakin' extremist!"9-Volt: "Yuffie, what are we gonna do now?"Yuffie: "We may be classified as rebels to a corrupt multi-million dollar corporation, but we'll go out fighting together."Lt. Jaguar: "Admiral Ares's men will be expecting heavy resistance just as much as do, so we have to make everything count while Blaze Bomber, Jimbo, Sully, and the Four Contras save the remaining planets and the Chrono Crystal shards alongside Vic Viper T-301."Wario: "Yeah! His evil concept on Bacterion technology brainwashes us, and so do his motives to 'cleanse all sinners'! If you ask me, Weyland-Yutani's a bunch of sinners around here like in the Alien movies!"(King Billy thought to himself momentarily.)King Billy: "Don't be dead, Arctic..."Mona: "I'm sure she's okay."King Billy: "I dunno. I never should have left her to die, even when she told me to warn you guys!"Mona: "She probably had her reasons, such as destroying the Bacterions that are being cloned aboard Weyland-Yutani's space station, apparently speaking."King Billy: "Yeah, I guess so. By the way, that crazy-ass admiral keeps using the terms 'terrorist' and 'government property'. I know it doesn't need to be said anymore, but I seriously don't think they mean what he thinks they mean! I'm glad I turned over a new leaf long ago, because in my opinion, being an ultimate ruler of the Earth is extremely boring. Drags-ville, I tell ya."Phoebe: "Guys, I hate to interrupt, but here come the enemy soldiers!"9-Volt: "They're coming right at us!"Mona: "Don't worry, little bro! We won't let them near you and Phoebe as long as we live!"5-Volt: "Mona's right. The truth must be spread to every living man and Bomber alike."Lt. Jaguar: "Heads up, everyone! We're going in!"

[End BGM][Boss BGM: Gravity (Cave Story 3D)]

Mission 8: Alone and batteredDespite her efforts to expose Weyland-Yutani's illegal operations regarding the cloned Bacterions, Arctic Bomber was easily defeated with little effort by the Contra Killers, each implemented with a stolen piece of the Contra power-up data. Injured and alone, she strives to find a way out...November 10, 20XX7:09 PM

Elsewhere, aboard the Weyland-Yutani space station, Arctic Bomber was unconscious from her humiliating defeat. Never in her life had she ever felt the pain from the fact that our own Contra power-ups are being used against us. In just minutes, she was locked in combat with an experimental BigCore MK-I, which looked exactly like its regular self at first. However, rather than disintegrate her body right away, it changed its color black with red streaks and slightly widened itself with six laser cannons mounted up front. In the meantime, Arctic Bomber got her act together by smacking herself in the head a few times.

Arctic Bomber: "That's the experimental BigCore? It looks more like that fourth boss from Gradius ReBirth..."(The modified BigCore MK-I charged its laser cannons.)Arctic Bomber: "dam! It'll be useless fighting it on foot! I've gotta get off this station somehow! Maybe if I stole one of its space fighters...?"

Desperate to save herself, the ex-Hate Bomber ran away from the experimental warship flying after her. Along the way, she rolled one Bowling Bomb after the other at the large glass tanks containing the cloned Bacterions, destroying them in the process. As much as she wanted to trigger the military station's self-destruct mechanism, she personally declared her safety as priority one.

Arctic Bomber: "I guess attempting to sacrifice myself to blow up this station isn't a hot idea after all, but at least everybody knows Weyland-Yutani's true motives. First and foremost, I've gotta get rid of this BigCore and rendezvous with Aaron and the others!"

While dodging the laser beams for dear life, she later ran into an abandoned space fighter in a miracle. She immediately hopped inside and pushed a bunch of buttons in hopes of activating the ship. With pure luck, she finally got it running and few out of the military station, though the modded BigCore was still hot on her tail. As it shot a big hole in the command bridge's hull to attack, Arctic flew around and returned fire only for the warship to deflect her shots with a barrel roll.

Arctic Bomber: "Aww man, you've gotta be kidding me! Does this crappy prototype of a ship even have missiles the BigCore can't deflect?!"(She checked the controls only to no avail.)Arctic Bomber: "Ugh, perfect...nothing but laser shots to use!"

The modded BigCore MK-I wasted no time gaining its upper-hand by firing more lasers, leaving Arctic with little time to react since it was obviously her first time piloting a space fighter alone. To make things worse, it didn't even have any shields to absorb some hits. Just when it seemed like she was going to die, the Contra Cruisers flew by and rescued her while the Vic Viper and two flanking space fighters attacked the BigCore. She could tell it was us!

Blaze Bomber: "Arctic! I thought we lost you!"Arctic Bomber: "Ace timing, fellas! Honestly, the ship I'm using now is a piece of crap!"Me: "We'll take you to planet Bomber since it's closer from here. We heard the news from Lt. Jaguar."Ami: "Judging by Weyland-Yutani's obsession with Bacterion technology, I'm not surprised."Blaze Bomber: "Vic Viper, we'll free planet Bomber while you go with Jimbo and Sully to Mazone Star. Chances are, since it is an icy planet, you're likely to encounter a wintry beast or a souped-up Crystal Core with the Ice Breath power-up data from our Contra arsenal. And when you can, find the next Chrono Crystal shard."Vic Viper T-301: "Roger that, Blaze. We'll draw the BigCore's attention away from you."

Bill, Lance, Blaze, Ami, and I guided Arctic to safety before her ship could be destroyed, leaving the other three to deal with the modded warship. Now ready to do battle, it opened up its core and commenced its firing pattern: a spread of six lasers four times in a row, followed by a pair of powerful beams. Working around its laser fire and barrel rolls, Jimbo and Sully fired a smart bomb from each of their ships to inflict damage, breaking off some barrier panels in the process. The Vic Viper's pilot followed up with a stream of laser fire and two of his ship's Multiples backing it up, exposing the enemy warship's core to direct hits. However, rather than repeat its attack pattern, it flew away toward the Interstellar Diamond in a suicide run, intent on blowing it up like a kamikaze!

Jimbo: "Rats! That thing's gonna kill everyone inside, by which I mean those who aren't Weyland-Yutani's lapdogs!"Vic Viper T-301: "Not for long! This way! We'll cut it off from there."Sully: "I hope this works, because from the looks of it, one shot is all we got!"

The Vic Viper blasted off after the suicidal BigCore with enough speed to catch up. Just when its core began to close, the pilot fired the two Multiples at the BigCore like missiles (a feature seen only in Salamander 2, which was never released out of Japan), miraculously destroying it. The experimental warship stopped moving and gave off a series of explosions before detonating in a larger explosion.

[End BGM]

Vic Viper T-301: "Whew! That was too close for comfort, though it's quite strange the core was a bit...frail."Jimbo: "I think it must be a prototype as part of Weyland-Yutani's cloning experiments. But hey, at least we stopped its kamikaze attempt."Sully: "Next stop, Mazone Star!"

And thus the threesome flew off to begin their part of our big mission to relieve the remaining planets of the Bacterion assimilation.

Mission 9: Evading capture and certain deathOnly two more planets in the Bomber Nebula remain infested by the Bacterions. This isn't the only problem, as the Contra Killers are still hot on the trail. Whenever they catch up with the six Contras on planet Bomber is anybody's guess, but the powers they personally demonstrated on Arctic Bomber are to be reckoned with.November 10, 20XX7:40 PM

During the flight to planet Bomber, Arctic Bomber explained herself about Spread Garnet, Laser Amethyst, and Homing Jasper of the Contra Killers. As soon as she finished, Blaze Bomber could not even begin to imagine the possibility of fusing a stolen Contra power-up data with Bacterion DNA into an artificial Bomberman, let alone install their jewel-wrought armor. It didn't come as much a surprise to me, Ami, Bill, or Lance since this has Weyland-Yutani's name written all over it. They want us dead now so the truth would remain classified to the civilians of planets Earth, Bomber, and Gradius. But we did not plan on dying in vain, for the sooner we derail Burke and Ares's latest science project, the better.

[Fight BGM: BigCore MK-I (Gradius V)]

Blaze Bomber's train of thought stopped abruptly when we came under attack by another Bacterion warship. This time, it was the Rolling Core, one of the bosses from Gradius IV and the first boss of the second boss rush in Gradius V. Before it showed up, it summoned the Zub Rush to bring us down. We used the opportunity to power up our Contra Cruisers by shooting down the spherical Zubs, grabbing the power-up pods to strengthen our ships with two Multiples each, as well as the Laser, Two-Way Missiles, and Force Fields. Once we had finished off the Zub Rush, the Rolling Core showed itself before us. Its appearance consisted of two semi-independent body parts, with the outer one carrying eight regenerating laser guns at its disposal. The inner part held the core with four barrier panels up front, and three on the rear, but the warship in general took a note on its obvious weakness by rotating its outer part back and forth as a shield.

Bill: "It's not gonna be easy, but as long as we work our way around, we'll be fine."Lance: "Say no more. Let's take out its laser guns first."Blaze Bomber: "Yeah, but our Contra Cruisers' scanners indicate the guns can regenerate."Ami: "That's odd...Now it's saying the Rolling Core possesses one of our Contra power-ups, but the Rolling Core itself isn't showing any signs."Arctic Bomber: "Well, we're not gonna find it out just by standing around like idiots now, are we?"Me: "Cut the chatter, fellas! Evasive maneuvers!"

Because we had strengthened our Contra Cruisers from the Zub Rush, we didn't have a difficult time taking out the Rolling Core's laser guns, but rather than regenerate them, it brought out missile launchers instead. Upon firing blue missiles in our direction, Ami's suspicions were correct: the Rolling Core has the Crash Missiles data installed in its system. We swerved about to evade the explosions from the missiles, and returned fire by shooting open the barrier panels on the inner part. The Force Field on both of our ships were taken out by the time we exposed the core to attack, and the Rolling Core flipped its center to the right by 90 degrees to fire a large laser beam, barely grazing us by the roof of our Contra Cruisers. After the attack was over, the Rolling Core rotated itself around counter-clockwise and charged forth, banging up our Contra Cruisers but not bad. When we returned fire once more and took out the core, the Rolling Core detonated in a large explosion, coughing up the Crash Missiles data for Blaze Bomber to extract into the ship he was in with me and Ami.

[End BGM]

Right after the battle was over, we boosted our Contra Cruisers through planet Bomber's atmosphere, and landed on the surface in the end. We were again thankful the Crygors' engineering on the titanium alloy enabled our ships to survive reentry without burning up in the atmosphere. However, we were immediately ambushed by the three Contra Killers!

Homing Jasper: "Surprise! Didn't expect to see us here?"Spread Garnet: "We knew you'd be coming this way, so we waited for just the right time to ambush you."Laser Amethyst: "And what clever timing: you brought Arctic Bomber along for another humiliating defeat!"Arctic Bomber: "Shut up! You three disgust me!"Spread Garnet: "Awww, what's the matter? Still sore about the punishment we dished out on you?"Arctic Bomber: "No, mad!"Spread Garnet: "Hate to burst your bubble, but that still counts as being sore."Laser Amethyst (eyeing Ami): "So...I take it you're the Ami who carries the Bomberman Watch with you at all times, eh? This'll be interesting, especially when I do this!"(She shoots a laser beam at Ami's watch, causing it to go on a fritz.)Laser Amethyst: "This beam isn't like the ones I've used on Arctic Bomber. It's filled with the Skull Virus, which can cause your Bomberman Watch to malfunction in one of many different ways, such as...oh my, it seems you can't use your bombs now, can you?"Ami: "Aack! How'd you guess?"Laser Amethyst: "A single Skull item is a Bomberman's bane, so the folks at Weyland-Yutani figured that since your watch gave you Bomberman powers, a Skull Virus should be able to prevent you from using your bombs properly. Thus, Admiral Ares installed that special laser beam into my arsenal."Homing Jasper: "Normally, you'd have to walk it off in order for the effects to disappear, but in this case, it's impossible. The only way to cure the Skull Virus on your Bomberman Watch is to kill Laser Amethyst, but too bad you'll be dead before that ever happens!"Ami: "Aaron, I hate to say this, but we gotta get outta here!"Arctic Bomber: "I'll handle those clowns!"Laser Amethyst: "Oh no, you don't!"(She shoots Arctic with the Skull Virus beam, causing her to feel woozy.)Arctic Bomber (groggy): "Ooooh, I don't feel so good..."

A few seconds later, her Bowling Bombs magically appeared around herself uncontrollably, with each one already primed for detonation. In short, she was like a walking time bomb when her Bowling Bombs exploded immediately upon hitting the ground. Laser Amethyst laughed heartily while watching Arctic blow herself up against her will. Then she shot the ex-Hate Bomber again with the Skull Virus, changing the effects to a different "disease": in which her Bowling Bombs burst in small, harmless explosions.

Homing Jasper: "Try beating us under these conditions set upon you! Oh wait, I forgot: our jewel-wrought bodies reflect all non-concussive shots!"Blaze Bomber (thinking): dam! It's all up to me to save us...but my Molotov cocktails won't be of much use since the Contra Killers are quite durable. If only I can build a portable power-up generator so Aaron, Bill, and Lance can use the Crash Missiles and the Drill Shot...then we just might have a chance of survival.Homing Jasper: "You can run, my misguided friends, but you can't hide! Our masters can't afford to have you around to terrorize our benevolent organization anymore!"Bill: "Benevolent my ass! We'll find a way to defeat you!"

On the run once more, we could not do much except evade as many attacks as possible until we get to safer ground. Blaze Bomber figured if we can reach Bomber Base (assuming it's not completely taken over by the Bacterions), he'll be able to build the portable power-up generator to give us the upper-hand. As for Arctic Bomber, she thought about getting in touch with our friends who are stuck in a firefight against Ares's soldiers in hopes of picking up her Neo Contra Rifle she lent to King Billy earlier. That is, if we can get to Bomber Base alive...

Once more was Arctic Bomber on the run from the three Contra Killers, only now the rest of us Contras accompanied her. They wanted us dead now because of how we're "terrorists" to Carter Burke and Admiral Ares. All we could do now is ignore their extremist kind of logic and focus on saving ourselves from the brink of death. But thanks to Laser Amethyst's Skull Virus beam, Ami cannot use her Bomberman Watch's powers, whereas Arctic Bomber's Bowling Bombs could only detonate in harmless, miniature explosions. Our capability to use concussive weapons to damage their reflective bodies averted, we had no other option but to retreat to Bomber Base. As soon as we were close, it was as we feared: the base was already occupied by enemy forces before we arrived. But it wasn't the Bacterions that captured it; rather the armored soldiers working for Weyland-Yutani. We could tell it's them just by looking at their insignia they had personally painted up front.

But who's in charge of Bomber Base? Nobody came to know about it, whether because the inhabitants of a distant town died trying to take it back or none had ever attempted to go there at all.

Perfect. And just in time for my intervention. I was hoping some of their close friends would be present too, but I'm not worried. When next time we meet in person, I'll be sure to thank the Contras for a little makeover they gave me several months back...that is, if they can get this far.

The enemy base commander, standing over six feet tall and clad in a military uniform, glanced through the window to see the situation at hand, his face obscured by a slightly-slanted visor on the front of his biker-like helmet. Only two venomous-green, malevolent eyes dared to appear on his hidden face. But before he could go on with his vengeful thoughts, one of the armored Weyland-Yutani soldiers walked on in to warn him.

Armored soldier: "Sir, I mean my liege, the Contras you speak of are now approaching the base we've occupied. We kill them now, right?"Base commander: "Do as you wish with them, do no harm to Aaron, Ami, and/or Blaze Bomber. I'll inform the Contra Killers the same thing, but Bill, Lance, and Arctic Bomber can suffer from an untimely death for all I care. However, you are not to address my true identity to any of them for whatever reason until after you've brought my intended prisoners before me."Armored soldier: "With all due respect, my liege, there's no point keeping your status classified. They already know of our plans to create a new era with the Bacterions under our control, and besides, Admiral Ares has everything covered with his three associates hunting the Contras like bloodhounds."(The base commander grabbed his neck.)Base commander: "Question my authority again, and I'll order the admiral's elite trio to kill you in cold blood!"Armored soldier (choking): "Gaack...understood...my liege..."(Afterwards, the base commander threw him to the ground, allowing him to get up and leave his personal office. Then the commander gazed at a blue crystal momentarily, prior to thinking back to me, Ami, and Blaze Bomber.)Base commander (to himself): "That's right, my misguided acquaintances: I have the Chrono Crystal shard you want. But before I relinquish it, I want you to come finish what you started nearly a year ago, if you can..."

With that said, he got out his communicator to order the Contra Killers to decimate Bill, Lance, and Arctic only, though much to their vexation since they wanted to enjoy every moment they had killing all six of us. Then he watched with delight as Spread Garnet and Laser Amethyst attacked Bill, Lance, and Arctic; Homing Jasper, on the other hand, weakened me, Ami, and Blaze with his heatseekers. Near the end, Arctic and Blaze managed to retaliate with their tag-team Particle Bomb attack (by combining fire and ice simultaneously), inflicting damage on Homing Jasper's jewel-hardened body at last. But Spread Garnet and Laser Amethyst were more than ready to subdue us as retribution with their Laser Bullet Hell Storm. In the end, Blaze, Ami, and I were captured and brought to the commander's office, where he would personally reveal himself before our very eyes.

Mission 10: The cold side of Mazone StarThough it is confirmed that one of the Chrono Crystal shards is hidden somewhere on this planet, it's just about frozen over in an endless, seemingly uncontrollable blizzard. One possible reason is the Bacterions' recent occupation on Mazone Dome, converted into a weather control machine by their technology to deter all intruders.November 10, 20XX7:45 PM

Elsewhere, far from planet Bomber and the three space colonies (including the one owned by Weyland-Yutani), the Vic Viper led Corporals Jimbo and Sully towards the surface of Mazone Star, its lush jungle completely frozen over like the rest of the planet. There once lived a native kangaroo-like creature in green fur, known as Louie, who temporarily aided Cheerful White in his quest to rescue Millian from the Garaden Empire. But now it seemed as if the friendly being was nowhere to be found. Jimbo and Sully could only assume his absence had to do with the Bacterions' occupation all over Mazone Star.

Vic Viper T-301: "I'll scout ahead and find the entrance to the Bacterions' Organic Fortress, and destroy its core at the end. Don't worry about me; I've had experience in solo missions before."Jimbo: "Good thing. And we'll try and get the next Chrono Crystal shard."Sully: "The radar Blaze Bomber initially transferred to both our ships indicated its presence somewhere in an ice cavern..."Vic Viper T-301: "Hmm...I'd be careful if I were you. Chances are there's a wintry beast living in the cave under the Bacterions' command."Jimbo: "I hate to interrupt, but I'm worried about Yuffie and her friends. Ares and his goons are up in outer space attempting to kill them, while we're out risking our necks for the Chrono Crystal shard."Sully: "We'll do what we can, VV. Over and out."

Starting from within a frozen jungle area originally known as Junfalls, Jimbo and Sully readied their machine guns, all the while wishing they each had a Neo Contra Rifle like Arctic Bomber did. It'd be cool if they also had a flamethrower and a grenade launcher alongside the machine gun; simply put, all three different weapons in one sophisticated rifle. But they set their thoughts aside and focused on the mission at hand. They climbed up the frozen waterfall with the help of some ice picks they got out as if they were going up an ice mountain. Once they reached the top, they entered the ice cavern to explore the interior, fending off the enemies as they go. Even when the duo cleared the area, they found no signs of the Chrono Crystal shard nor the beast guarding it.

Sully: "Y'know, Jimmy, I think we've taken the wrong trail."Jimbo: "Figures. So where to now?"Sully: "From what we've read in the history of Bomber Nebula, one other dangerous place to explore on Mazone Star was the Slush Mountains."Jimbo: "Well then let's go there, but not by mountain climbing. I'd rather fly to the top than risk falling to my death any day."

Having hit a dead end, Jimbo and Sully returned outside through the blizzard and back to their ships. From there, they flew upwards into the sky, their visibility poor because of the snowstorm. It was so windy that they didn't see a tall mountain once they arrived at their next destination. They quickly bailed out before their ships crashed and exploded on impact. Sully's theory was dead-on: the Chrono Crystal shard was indeed located at an ice cavern somewhere within the Slush Mountains.

Jimbo: "This has to be the place...but I'm afraid we'll have to count on the six Contras to get us out."Sully: "Hopefully our friends on board the Interstellar Diamond have managed to survive long enough..."(Just as they stepped inside, they came across a large, ice golem patrolling the cavern.)

Jimbo: "Aw, hell...we're screwed, aren't we? Now who or what are you?"Sully: "And what's with the white orb-like thing in your chest?"Kholdstare (male, monstrous voice): I am Kholdstare. Because I was fused with a Bacterion cell, I can become anything I desire to be the most powerful ice creature imaginable. The two of you shall make fine ice sculptures, just like that green kangaroo before you...Jimbo: "So that's why we couldn't find Louie...?"Sully: "We'll stop you, whatever abomination you are!"Kholdstare: Ho ho ho ho ho! You talk big, but can your formidability back you up?

Unfortunately for Jimbo and Sully, they were unaware that Kholdstare was one of the boss monsters encountered in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, not to mention the fact that they don't even have the Fire Rod to fight him. But they do know fire melts ice, so they improvised by getting out some incendiary bombs, with each one shaped like a sophisticated, fuseless stick of dynamite. They primed the explosives for detonation by twisting the cap-like tops around 360 degrees, and threw them at Kholdstare to inflict fire damage. But when the blast cleared, the monster reformed his head in under a minute. Jimbo and Sully became desperate, and used all their remaining incendiary bombs to melt Kholdstare's icy shell only for him to shrug it off. Then he retaliated by throwing a series of punches, followed by shooting ice beams from his "eyes" and breathing a frigid wind out of his "mouth", merging both beams into a devastating blow at Jimbo and Sully. Afterwards, he punched them again towards the wall, crushing their machine guns in the process.

Kholdstare: Is this the best the pathetic people of planets Earth and Bomber can send? Ho ho ho ho ho!(Jimbo and Sully rolled out of harm's way before the monster could freeze them.)Kholdstare: You can never hope to hide from me forever, pitiful worms! As long as I harness the power of this Chrono Crystal shard, the Mazone Diamond, your weapons are worthless against the mighty Kholdstare!

Run and dodge as they could, Jimbo and Sully were no match for Kholdstare's intense power. Eventually they were cornered, doomed to be frozen into ice sculptures like Louie.

Jimbo: "I hate to say this, Sully, but we need Aaron, Ami, Bill, Lance, Arctic, and Blaze again!"Sully: "My thoughts exactly! We don't stand a chance against Kholdstare without them!"(In just seconds, Kholdstare froze them with his ice breath.)Kholdstare: Foolish humans! You had no chance to defeat me from the beginning. I shall then add you to my personal collection of ice sculptures as a warning to these friends of yours.

[End BGM]

With the battle lost, it was all up to Jimbo and Sully's comrades, including us, to come to their rescue. Because Kholdstare is neither native to Mazone Star nor a Bacterion (but rather a bioweapon), even destroying the brain core of the Organic Fortress within would not stop him.

Blaze Bomber, Ami, and I were taken prisoner on planet Bomber, forced on a one-way trip to the enemy commander's office inside the overtaken Bomber Base. We saw many cloned Bacterion drones along the way, leading us once more to think Weyland-Yutani had gone absolutely power-crazy. They must want to extend their reign beyond Earth as part of "building better worlds" as they claimed. To us, however, it was their way of saying "why rule only one planet when they could have two"...or perhaps five if they included Primus Star, Kanatia Star, and Mazone Star. This madness has to end, and we intend to do so by getting the rest of the Chrono Crystal shards. Once we reform them and solve the mystery on who really helped us take out that one Bacterion flagship a few days ago (from the space-time anomaly, no doubt), everything will be just fine...

But that's if we save ourselves first, for we were brought before the commander in the form of a Bomberman. It was only a matter of time before he would reveal himself since he somehow knew us.

Enemy commander: "Always the tough bunch, aren't you? Then again, it's been a long time since we crossed swords with each other on Earth..."(We were left speechless for a moment, as he looked at each of us slowly.)Enemy commander: "What? Nothing to say? I'm sure you remember killing me a long time ago, Aaron...Ami...and even Blaze Bomber."Me: "How do you know about us, and who the hell are you?"Enemy commander (scoffs): "Well, isn't that a fine how-do-you-do! Now don't tell me you've forgotten all about me. In fact, don't you recognize my voice?"Ami: "We do...but not your appearance."Blaze Bomber: "His voice should sound familiar for someone who's hell-bent on killing just the three of us."Ami: "Colonel Bassad!"Bassad (earlier marked as "Enemy commander"): "You're absolutely right, Contras! I've become what General Shepherd and I hate, I'll give you that."Ami (angrily): "What do you want with us, traitor?!"(Bassad chuckled deviously.)Bassad: "Ami, 'traitor' is such a harsh word. You and your friends should be thinking of me as the future ruler of planet Bomber. It was only by a miracle that Weyland-Yutani rejuvenated me...or should I say recreated. You see, it all happened nine months ago, and only a week after you deliberately blew up Area 51 and our precious cargo inside."Ami: "You call those Bacterion warships your superior stole precious?! They were built by their supreme master to kill people and expand their personal hive!"Bassad: "Carter Burke was right: you never could understand the true potential of Bacterion technology. But getting back to what became of me: a recon team searched around the Galuga Archipelago off the coast of New Zealand, and by careful scanning did they find me...at least what's left of me, that is. Indeed you three killed me and my men, but it was a miracle that my brain survived. Henceforth, they brought me back and implanted my brain - in addition to my consciousness - into the body you see before your very eyes. I should thank you for your indirect contribution in giving me a second life, but it'd be more fun to kill you personally."(He eyed Ami's Bomberman Watch.)Bassad: "I see one of Admiral Ares' Contra Killers gave your watch a Skull Virus. We've been going underground ever since you won that court case against Burke, working tirelessly to rebuild Weyland-Yutani as well as analyze your holy-powered gizmos: your Bomberman Watch, Aaron's Contra Rifle, and even Bill Rizer and Lance Bean's M16 machine guns. It was by luck that we created a weakness powerful enough to render your weapons useless."Blaze Bomber: "Until we destroy the one who'd curse us with said virus."Bassad: "That virus has always been a Bomberman's bane for centuries, even today. But since it only affects anything related to Bomber-kind - indirect or otherwise - Burke and Ares gave me a special weapon of my own: the Skull EMP. And you know what EMP stands for, don't you?"Me: "Electromagnetic pulse. You're gonna malfunction my Contra Rifle with it, right?"

Bassad: "Correct-amundo! This special EMP will prevent your gun from ever again acquiring any fancy-looking power-ups, let alone your Spread Gun, in addition to activating your barrier for protection. And yes, the Skull Virus also prevents Ami from using hers as well. Simply put, you two won't have your own barriers to protect your bodies from mortal damage. Now that we've renewed our acquaintances, let's match my powers against yours. I haven't danced in a while, if you know what I mean..."Me: "We'll still stop you, however we can!"Ami: "That goes double for me!"Blaze Bomber: "If we must die valiantly to end the Bacterion assimilation, we'll take the risk."Bassad: "Don't prolong the inevitable, because you have no chance to stop us this time!"

Because we were forced into battle, Blaze Bomber could not get to work on a mobile power-up generator. Bassad attacked by opening the palm of his right hand, shooting a Ripple Laser-like ray (only filled with skulls) directly at me. Fearing this was the Skull EMP he told us about, I dodged out of the way while Ami and Blaze threw some punches. Right before they hit, he jumped out of the way and kicked them right back, sending them careening towards me. As we were momentarily unconscious, Bassad wasted no time zapping my Contra Rifle with his Skull EMP, causing the negative affects as he described: no power-ups accepted at all, and especially no 5-hit barrier or even the 30-hit Konami Barrier to protect me. Of course, the Skull Virus on Ami's Bomberman Watch also prevented the barrier from activating around her body as well, much to Bassad's delight.

Bassad: "How utterly pathetic, not to mention sad. You came all the way here only to die at my hands. By the way, here's the spoiler as to how I know the Contra Killers: I AM their leader, albeit indirectly. Spread Garnet is merely second-in-command."(Spread Garnet, Laser Amethyst, and Homing Jasper came in with Bill, Lance, and Arctic Bomber.)Bassad: "Ahh, splendid job, and just in the nick of time too!"Spread Garnet: "Indeed! Now all six of them can die together at once!"Laser Amethyst: "You can't hope to get the Bomber Sapphire, the Chrono Crystal shard of this planet, if you can't save yourselves!"Homing Jasper: "Think of your deaths as a thank-you present for finally inflicting damage on my reflective body."Bassad: "But first, a mere demonstration of my new powers. Arctic, Blaze, I've heard you could dish out your tag team attack, the Particle Bomb. Now let's see if you can't take it!"(He raises both hands to charge up a different elemental beam: fire on the left, and ice on the right. Both were shot out at once, striking each other simultaneously in a resulting explosion that weakened us.)Bassad: "Hmph. Still standing tall, I see. No matter, for as soon as our Bacterion flagship is complete within the planet's Organic Fortress, the almighty Dr. Venom will return to us as prophesied!"Bill: "I've heard of him...he once developed the Vic Viper long before he went rogue..."Lance: "And he later conspired with the Bacterions to rule planet Gradius...he's probably still doing it today..."Arctic Bomber: "I'm kinda confused here...in a couple Gradius games, like the third one, the final boss is Bacterian...but in the second and fourth entries, it's Gofer...stupid name, I know..."Bassad: "I can't say I blame you here. Bacterion history can be quite complicated, even today, but it matters little as Dr. Venom is prophesied to be reincarnated as a Bacterion god. He will guide us to assure that all opposition that dares to defy our will shall be exterminated, including you and your friends as we speak. Your petty destruction of government property will be a thing of the past forevermore. Now, any last words before we begin the ritual?"(Suddenly, Lt. Jaguar and his group, along with King Billy, busted on in.)King Billy: "Think again, you Bacterion-worshipping bastard!"Bassad: "What?!"Lt. Jaguar: "We picked up Bill and Lance's SOS as soon as we fought long and hard to retake the Interstellar Diamond as well as borrow a couple dropships from Burke's space station."Bassad: "Hah! Fight all you want, but Burke and Ares still have plenty of Bacterion warships to throw at you! Not even you will stop mass destruction before our ritual is complete, for Dr. Venom will return to us and you utterly destroyed!"King Billy: "Maybe, but our fellow soldiers' noble sacrifices won't be in vain! The citizens still live, and so will we! Besides, Arctic needs her Neo Contra Rifle more than I do."Arctic Bomber: "I second that...and thanks, Billy. I promise if we ever get free, we'll cream those terrorists together!"Spread Garnet: "Not if our masters' space station arrives in time to help out with Dr. Venom's revival in addition to your untimely deaths!"Laser Amethyst: "You'll never get the rest of your Contra power-ups back, you hear me? NEVER!"

[End BGM][Stage BGM: Cell (Bomberman Hero)]

Meanwhile across the Bomber Nebula, the second of the "borrowed" dropships arrived on Mazone Star at the cavern where Jimbo, Sully, and Louie are imprisoned in ice. Out came Wario, Mona, 9-Volt, Phoebe, Cheerful White, Cute Pink, and Yuffie on their mission to recover the next Chrono Crystal shard while Vic Viper T-301 gets rid of the Organic Fortress at its very core. All seven of them wore their own sets of Varia clothing, each based on the Varia Suit's capability to protect against extreme temperatures.

Ahhh... came Kholdstare's voice. As I surmised, more visitors have come to be turned into ice sculptures, just like the green kangaroo and the other foolish victims before them. Come to me, if you dare...

Yuffie: "Who...or what was that?"Mona: "I dunno, but we're about to find out now. Meanwhile, Ashley and Young Cricket are helping Kat, Ana, Professor Ein, and the fellow citizens of Diamond City to guard Queen Millian and Pibot with their lives until we return."Cheerful White: "Good thing the professor managed to alert three other ships from planet Gradius to our assistance. We're gonna need all the help we can get to end this war!"Yuffie: "The Lord British, Jade Knight, and last but not least, the Falchion Beta. Even the legendary Vic Viper needs backup sometimes."(As soon as they came closer, Kholdstare appeared before them as an ice golem.)Kholdstare (telepathically): Indeed those two pathetic men have called for their friends to save them. Too bad you're not long for this world.Wario: "You mean Jimbo and Sully? What have you done with them?!"Kholdstare: I merely gave them what they so richly deserve for their intervention, and now I shall do the same for you.9-Volt: "I don't remember that ice boss looking this way in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past..."Phoebe: "Neither did I. He was stationary until his icy shell melted."Kholdstare: It was all thanks to the Bacterion cell in my body, that I can shape-shift my exterior to my will. You, however, are insignificant. Dance, humans!Cute Pink (muttering): "White and I happen to be Bombermen, you know..."Cheerful White: "Snap out of it, Pink! He's gonna freeze us!"

Kholdstare opened the palms of his "hands" to shoot ice beams at Wario's group, but they were quick to dodge out of the way. Mona was briefly caught by the legs, though Wario was able to set her free by breaking the ice. Then he gulped down a Super Garlic to change into Wario-Man, and pummeled away at Kholdstare's icy body. The monster taunted his feeble attempt at breaking it down, boasting that only the flames from the Fire Rod can truly penetrate it. That's when Mona pulled out a flamethrower to melt him, whilst jumping onto his arms to use as stepping stones towards the chest. White and Pink backed her up with their bombs, whereas 9-Volt helped Phoebe aim her enchanted Super Scope, based on the SNES's namesake accessory which could fire enchanted cannonballs (despite looking more like bowling balls) to smite evil. The combined fiery blasts in addition to Mona's flamethrower, not to mention Yuffie's explosive shurikens, had enough power to melt Kholdstare's current form. But just as he was reduced to his white circular self, he laughed maliciously.

Kholdstare: Did you think I could restrict myself to only one form? You must destroy the cell within me in order to assure my demise, let alone recover what your heroes call the Ice Breath.Yuffie: "I knew it. You do have the Contras' wintry power-up after all!"Kholdstare: And the Mazone Diamond as well. Prepare yourselves, wretched creatures!

The bioweapon manipulated the ice once more, this time generating a whole new body that closely resembled the Crystal Core from the Gradius games. He swung his frontal tentacles downwards, swiping Wario and his pals to the ground; he followed up with an ice beam that froze everyone but 9-Volt and Phoebe.

9-Volt: "Looks like it's just us now! I wish my mom were with us instead of guarding Queen Millian and Pibot..."Phoebe: "Yeah...and perhaps my dad, too."Kholdstare: Bwa, ha ha ha HA! Your persistence ends here, insignificant humans!(9-Volt and Phoebe hugged each other tightly, accepting defeat.)Kholdstare: You will die...!(Just then, a red spaceship flew by, blasting down the ice with its Ripple Laser and two Multiples backing it up, disrupting the monster's concentration.)Kholdstare: Who dares disturb my--(The ship, now identified as the Lord British, aimed for the "core" and fired away, eventually killing Kholdstare.)

[End BGM]

9-Volt: "Who...or what saved us?"Phoebe: "At least Kholdstare's gone...9-Volt, look! The ice is melting!"(The Lord British's pilot watched as the frozen victims were set free.)Lord British (male voice): "Thank the stars I arrived in time. I got Professor Ein's message about you guys needing help, and somehow I thought I'd find you and the Vic Viper on this planet while Jade Knight and Falchion Beta went to assist everyone else against the Bacterions."Jimbo: "Whoa...where are we?"Sully: "And is that the Lord British we heard so much about?"Lord British: "Yep, the very same ship that helped Vic Viper destroy the Bacterion special force known as Salamander a long time ago. Speaking of which, I need to give T-301 a hand; you get the others back to safety, alright?"(The pilot set course for the Mazone Dome to join Vic Viper T-301.)Wario: "You betcha!"Cheerful White: "Pink, look! It's our close friends from planet Bomber: Cool Black, Kid Blue, Bookworm Green, Giant Gold, and Acrobat Aqua!"Cute Pink: "Not to mention Louie. Just one thing bothers me: what did Kholdstare want with them?"Yuffie: "I'm not surprised Weyland-Yutani had something to do with this. They must have captured your pals to use as test subjects for Kholdstare's Bacterion-powered capabilities, but not anymore."(She picked up the Chrono Crystal shard and the Ice Breath power-up data from Kholdstare's melted remains.)Yuffie: "Well, that's that!"Jimbo: "And good riddance. I never want to see that cold-hearted bastard again as long as I live."Sully: "Neither do I. Let's get back to the Interstellar Diamond while our two reinforcements finish the job on Mazone Star. Oh, and thanks for finding us."

Even though our friends were successful in stopping Kholdstare with the Lord British's help, Colonel Bassad and the three Contra Killers still hold the six of us Contras hostage on planet Bomber. And while Lt. Jaguar, King Billy, and the Colonial Marines arrived to save us, Bassad wasn't worried about the odds being stacked against him, for he was confident it's only a matter of time before the Bacterions' flagship is completed with their supreme master inside -- one whom Bassad claimed to have been called Dr. Venom.